Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

[Badablek]

thanks for this great emulator(s)
works great, and the minimalist menu is really nice and very "retro"...perfect for retro-gaming



Is there any chance to add some kind of feature like in NeoDS, which was able to launch neogeo games with only 4MB of RAM ???

from NeoDS readme :

NeoGeo games can be close to 100MB in size, while the ds only has 4MB of ram. Graphics, sound, and program code all need to be streamed into ram constantly while the emulator is running. NeoDs uses a modified libfat which has a lookup table to vastly speed up seek times. In the future, slot2 ds ram expansion packs could provide some speed up. But they only have 32MB, so games will still have to stream.

Neogeo games must be converted, but it runs on very low memory systems (Metal Slug is working pretty well on my old DS).


ps : IMHO, the core option should be the first line in the settings, because it's the first thing you have to change when you start RetroArch.
and it would be easier if retroarch resets itself after the core selection

 

[vinzanity]

Just tried this emulator today and I LOVE IT! CPS2 and CPS1 is something i wanted for the wii but I always thought it was impossible because no one dared make one. Then this masterpiece comes along! Marvel Vs. Capcom, Street Fighter Alpha 2, the Original Street Fighter II, oh how I love it since the Wii never really had nice fighting games outside of Tatsunoku vs. Capcom and Guilty Gear Accent Core.Also the X-Men arcade game works using the FBA Core! Based on my testing on CPS2 games, Hyper Street Fighter II (hsf2.zip) is the only game that doesn't run (black screen). The rest I've tested are running like a dream. Also I tested WWE Wrestlefest on the FBA Core and although it ran, the graphics (sprites)were corrupted (but the music was there). Hopefully it gets some love on the next release :-) Prior to the release of this emulator, I've always thought that the original Xbox was the best when it came to emulation, now I think I give the Wii the thumbs up sign. Xbox may have CPS3 (already maxxing it out, evident with the framerate drops) and SNES "rumble" but the Wii has everything besides that and Gamecube :-)

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Just tried this emulator today and I LOVE IT! CPS2 and CPS1 is something i wanted for the wii but I always thought it was impossible because no one dared make one. Then this masterpiece comes along! Marvel Vs. Capcom, Street Fighter Alpha 2, the Original Street Fighter II, oh how I love it since the Wii never really had nice fighting games outside of Tatsunoku vs. Capcom and Guilty Gear Accent Core.Also the X-Men arcade game works using the FBA Core! Based on my testing on CPS2 games, Hyper Street Fighter II (hsf2.zip) is the only game that doesn't run (black screen). The rest I've tested are running like a dream. Also I tested WWE Wrestlefest on the FBA Core and although it ran, the graphics (sprites)were corrupted (but the music was there). Hopefully it gets some love on the next release :-) Prior to the release of this emulator, I've always thought that the original Xbox was the best when it came to emulation, now I think I give the Wii the thumbs up sign. Xbox may have CPS3 (already maxxing it out, evident with the framerate drops) and SNES "rumble" but the Wii has everything besides that and Gamecube :-)

So far based on my tests, the Wii is definitely a lot faster than the Xbox 1. Not a little bit, but a lot.

Super Street Fighter II X Turbo Revival on VBA Next runs at around 59/58/60fps vs. 43/42fps on Xbox 1.
Virtua Racing on Genesis Plus GX (RetroArch Wii) runs at 60fps vs. 45fps or so on Xbox 1.

And SNES9x Next has a similar speed difference.

Really, the Wii has an excellent processor given the clock speed and Nintendo's modesty in advertising it (as in - not hyping up the tech specs to any degree). If any console manufacturer should be ashamed for their tech choices this generation, it should have been Sony and MS which opted for bottlenecked-like-hell in-order CPUs that run no better than a Pentium 4 CPU (which is bad in and of itself given the lifecycle they expected these consoles to have). It's amazing that other than a few Anandtech articles back in 2005/2006, nobody in the game development circles has ever blasted Microsoft/Sony's consoles for having such weak CPUs in the first place given the clock speed and the marketing hype surrounding them. The entire reason you have this SPU infatuation going on on the PS3 is because the main CPU is so utterly weak that it has no chance in hell to compete with the 360 (which is weak enough as it is but has at least 3 'weak' main CPU cores instead of just 1 weak main one) if it were not possible to fall back on those SPUs -and even those SPUs have no purpose if you don't have a lot of heavy-duty tasks to off-load from the main CPU.

 

[vinzanity]

Super Street Fighter II X Turbo Revival on VBA Next runs at around 59/58/60fps vs. 43/42fps on Xbox 1.
Virtua Racing on Genesis Plus GX (RetroArch Wii) runs at 60fps vs. 45fps or so on Xbox 1.

And SNES9x Next has a similar speed difference.

That's cool! Gotta try that out tomorrow. By the way, some of the "bugs" that some users are reporting are actually settings in the dip switch for example SSF2, I think the default is "attract sound" (or something like that) is off. Any chance we can access the dipswitch per game? So we can set the attract sound and "free play" or 10 tokens per credit :-).

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Super Street Fighter II X Turbo Revival on VBA Next runs at around 59/58/60fps vs. 43/42fps on Xbox 1.
Virtua Racing on Genesis Plus GX (RetroArch Wii) runs at 60fps vs. 45fps or so on Xbox 1.

And SNES9x Next has a similar speed difference.

That's cool! Gotta try that out tomorrow. By the way, some of the "bugs" that some users are reporting are actually settings in the dip switch for example SSF2, I think the default is "attract sound" (or something like that) is off. Any chance we can access the dipswitch per game? So we can set the attract sound and "free play" or 10 tokens per credit :-).

You can only access the Service menu right now by pressing Start + Select + L + R. For the next release we might want to look at a way to make it possible to toggle DIP switches.

 

[kylster]

Is there a compatibility list somewhere?

EDIT: I'm sorry I was looking at the supported emulators list again & I hope Sega CD get's support real soon I would absolutlylove to play Lunar or Sonic again. Still thanks for the release.

 

[vinzanity]

You can only access the Service menu right now by pressing Start + Select + L + R. For the next release we might want to look at a way to make it possible to toggle DIP switches.

Ok thanks for the tip, I will check that out. Last request, Any chance we can get a "default start path" settings in the .ini per core? Let's say I edit the rom path of CPS Roms to sd:/retroarch/roms/cps2 and i change to FBA neogeo core and I set it to sd:/retroarch/roms/neogeo and it stays there and the 2 paths are saved. This is so that I don't have to browse from the top path again everytime I change core and when I first run the emulator. This will also give my younger brother less headaches as he may be browsing the wrong directory and load an SNES game in the FBA CPS2 core.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Is there a compatibility list somewhere?

EDIT: I'm sorry I was looking at the supported emulators list again & I hope Sega CD get's support real soon I would absolutlylove to play Lunar or Sonic again. Still thanks for the release.

Sega CD works, but there is no CD Audio. You'll notice the mainline Genesis Plus GX release doesn't have CD audio too right now - so nothing I can do about that other than wait until ekeeke adds it.

 

[mightymuffy]

-When I open the emulator, the classic controller (from last time I set it up) doesn't respond. I need to go to settings, and there I find something strange, Classic Controller is already selected, but the keymaps corresponds to the GC controller. I need to switch to GC then press left for Classic Controller and now the keymaps are correct, go back to the game, and then works, BUT I need to do this everytime I launch the emulator.

i also need to set my classic controller each time i run the emulator.

as default for 'classic' its got half classic and half CG settings.

Only seems to be a problem after changing cores for me......
Fabulous release, thanks guys! CPS2 emulation, we are not worthy! And Yoshi's Island SNES better than 9xGX......Amazing stuff! Super SFII Turbo seems to hang on a 'terminal check' on any child rom I try, however vanilla Super SFII runs a treat... Any chance of a Favourites folder in the future - my 2 young lads enjoy a bit of CPS2 but the whole different roms thing will confuse them - maybe a favourites folder where I can rename the titles?
Thanks again by the way peeps, legends!!

 

[the_randomizer]

Yeah, Eke-eke (I think that's how you spell it), hasn't added CD-audio for Sega CD support yet, but he plans to soon. Still, nevertheless this is one awesome emulator!

Out of curiosity, what's different about the Snes9x Next core?

 

[vigi_lante]

So far based on my tests, the Wii is definitely a lot faster than the Xbox 1. Not a little bit, but a lot.

Super Street Fighter II X Turbo Revival on VBA Next runs at around 59/58/60fps vs. 43/42fps on Xbox 1.
Virtua Racing on Genesis Plus GX (RetroArch Wii) runs at 60fps vs. 45fps or so on Xbox 1.

And SNES9x Next has a similar speed difference.

Really, the Wii has an excellent processor given the clock speed and Nintendo's modesty in advertising it (as in - not hyping up the tech specs to any degree). If any console manufacturer should be ashamed for their tech choices this generation, it should have been Sony and MS which opted for bottlenecked-like-hell in-order CPUs that run no better than a Pentium 4 CPU (which is bad in and of itself given the lifecycle they expected these consoles to have). It's amazing that other than a few Anandtech articles back in 2005/2006, nobody in the game development circles has ever blasted Microsoft/Sony's consoles for having such weak CPUs in the first place given the clock speed and the marketing hype surrounding them. The entire reason you have this SPU infatuation going on on the PS3 is because the main CPU is so utterly weak that it has no chance in hell to compete with the 360 (which is weak enough as it is but has at least 3 'weak' main CPU cores instead of just 1 weak main one) if it were not possible to fall back on those SPUs -and even those SPUs have no purpose if you don't have a lot of heavy-duty tasks to off-load from the main CPU.

Nice. Is it possible to expect full speed (without drops) GBA emulation for all games on the Wii?

 

[DEFIANT]

Will you by chance be adding cheat support in the future?

 

[the_randomizer]

So far based on my tests, the Wii is definitely a lot faster than the Xbox 1. Not a little bit, but a lot.

Super Street Fighter II X Turbo Revival on VBA Next runs at around 59/58/60fps vs. 43/42fps on Xbox 1.
Virtua Racing on Genesis Plus GX (RetroArch Wii) runs at 60fps vs. 45fps or so on Xbox 1.

And SNES9x Next has a similar speed difference.

Really, the Wii has an excellent processor given the clock speed and Nintendo's modesty in advertising it (as in - not hyping up the tech specs to any degree). If any console manufacturer should be ashamed for their tech choices this generation, it should have been Sony and MS which opted for bottlenecked-like-hell in-order CPUs that run no better than a Pentium 4 CPU (which is bad in and of itself given the lifecycle they expected these consoles to have). It's amazing that other than a few Anandtech articles back in 2005/2006, nobody in the game development circles has ever blasted Microsoft/Sony's consoles for having such weak CPUs in the first place given the clock speed and the marketing hype surrounding them. The entire reason you have this SPU infatuation going on on the PS3 is because the main CPU is so utterly weak that it has no chance in hell to compete with the 360 (which is weak enough as it is but has at least 3 'weak' main CPU cores instead of just 1 weak main one) if it were not possible to fall back on those SPUs -and even those SPUs have no purpose if you don't have a lot of heavy-duty tasks to off-load from the main CPU.

Nice. Is it possible to expect full speed (without drops) GBA emulation for all games on the Wii?

I believe he'll be porting a GBA emulator called gpSP, which apparently runs most games at full speed, but I'm not sure.

 

[Dogway]

OK, about MvsC it needed a child version. And also just in case I converted to 142u5 romset.
ssf2t.zip works for me, although no intro audio.
All the sf trunk (ssf2.zip ssf2t.zip, sf2.zip, etc) have minor graphical glitches.
And I can't make sf2.zip to work, even after converting romset, or adding a child
I also updated the darkstalkers romset but still lacks the opening audio. Even adding the USA child.

Now also the emulator magically remembers my controller configuration. Probably because I succesfully exited the emulator (instead of out a crash). But will report if this happens again.

 

[the_randomizer]

OK, about MvsC it needed a child version. And also just in case I converted to 142u5 romset.
ssf2t.zip works for me, although no intro audio.
All the sf trunk (ssf2.zip ssf2t.zip, sf2.zip, etc) have minor graphical glitches.
And I can't make sf2.zip to work, even after converting romset, or adding a child
I also updated the darkstalkers romset but still lacks the opening audio. Even adding the USA child.

Now also the emulator magically remembers my controller configuration. Probably because I succesfully exited the emulator (instead of out a crash). But will report if this happens again.

So it saves the controller profiles then?

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Now also the emulator magically remembers my controller configuration. Probably because I succesfully exited the emulator (instead of out a crash). But will report if this happens again.

True, it will only save it if it gets cleanly exited. Which is why it's probably a good idea if RetroArch Wii instead immediately saves the changes you make to input when returning from the 'Controller submenu' to the 'Settings' menu again.

Also - about the crashes when loading a new (big) ROM one after another - most of these emulators have some kind of memory leaking going on because they were never designed for reentrant ROM loading and (I guess) because taking care of memory leaks is seen as an afterthought when the target platform is a PC that has 4/8GB of RAM available loading (at most) 55/60MB ROMs. So it's an unfortunate state of affairs where we have to fix memory leaks left in by the original programmers on an ad-hoc basis (when we encounter or spot them). Memory is sparse on Wii/Xbox 1 so these 'out of memory' issues are going to occur much faster than on - say - a PS3 or 360 where you have at least 256+MB RAM where some memory leaking is not a great cause of concern during a session when perhaps maybe 5 or 10 big ROMs get loaded one after another.

Needless to say, our goal will be to eradicate memory leaks in all emulator cores - and to push the changes upstream so that the official emulator projects benefit from it as well.

 

[OriginalHamster]

Now also the emulator magically remembers my controller configuration. Probably because I succesfully exited the emulator (instead of out a crash). But will report if this happens again.

True, it will only save it if it gets cleanly exited. Which is why it's probably a good idea if RetroArch Wii instead immediately saves the changes you make to input when returning from the 'Controller submenu' to the 'Settings' menu again.

Yep it successfully save controller settings when you cleanly exit, the problem I get is it can't store let's say two or more controller configurations, for instance it can't save gamecube and classic controller settings at the same time, it only can store the last controller configurated.

 

[nakata6790]

Needless to say, our goal will be to eradicate memory leaks in all emulator cores - and to push the changes upstream so that the official emulator projects benefit from it as well.

That's great and extremely encouraging to hear, bravo!

Just tried this emulator today and I LOVE IT! CPS2 and CPS1 is something i wanted for the wii but I always thought it was impossible because no one dared make one. Then this masterpiece comes along! Marvel Vs. Capcom, Street Fighter Alpha 2, the Original Street Fighter II, oh how I love it since the Wii never really had nice fighting games outside of Tatsunoku vs. Capcom and Guilty Gear Accent Core.Also the X-Men arcade game works using the FBA Core! Based on my testing on CPS2 games, Hyper Street Fighter II (hsf2.zip) is the only game that doesn't run (black screen). The rest I've tested are running like a dream. Also I tested WWE Wrestlefest on the FBA Core and although it ran, the graphics (sprites)were corrupted (but the music was there). Hopefully it gets some love on the next release :-) Prior to the release of this emulator, I've always thought that the original Xbox was the best when it came to emulation, now I think I give the Wii the thumbs up sign. Xbox may have CPS3 (already maxxing it out, evident with the framerate drops) and SNES "rumble" but the Wii has everything besides that and Gamecube :-)

So far based on my tests, the Wii is definitely a lot faster than the Xbox 1. Not a little bit, but a lot.



Super Street Fighter II X Turbo Revival on VBA Next runs at around 59/58/60fps vs. 43/42fps on Xbox 1.

Virtua Racing on Genesis Plus GX (RetroArch Wii) runs at 60fps vs. 45fps or so on Xbox 1.



And SNES9x Next has a similar speed difference.



Really, the Wii has an excellent processor given the clock speed and Nintendo's modesty in advertising it (as in - not hyping up the tech specs to any degree). If any console manufacturer should be ashamed for their tech choices this generation, it should have been Sony and MS which opted for bottlenecked-like-hell in-order CPUs that run no better than a Pentium 4 CPU (which is bad in and of itself given the lifecycle they expected these consoles to have). It's amazing that other than a few Anandtech articles back in 2005/2006, nobody in the game development circles has ever blasted Microsoft/Sony's consoles for having such weak CPUs in the first place given the clock speed and the marketing hype surrounding them. The entire reason you have this SPU infatuation going on on the PS3 is because the main CPU is so utterly weak that it has no chance in hell to compete with the 360 (which is weak enough as it is but has at least 3 'weak' main CPU cores instead of just 1 weak main one) if it were not possible to fall back on those SPUs -and even those SPUs have no purpose if you don't have a lot of heavy-duty tasks to off-load from the main CPU.

If only game ''journalists'' did their jobs...
Truth is, the Wii was criminally underutilised by most developers, save a few exceptions (EAD, Climax, Retro, Shin'en, Capcom,Treyarch). Playing again through my GC collection via DM & Devo reinforces that to me at least...

 

[mightymuffy]

ssf2t.zip works for me, although no intro audio.

Cheers mon! (And a bit of egg-on-face for me, I was trying the SSFII Tournament rather than Turbo LOL.... turns out my ssf2t.zip didn't work anyway, but I've now found one that does - me is very happy!)
Don't think I've seen any glitches in the trunk though, and my sf2.zip works fine....(edit: though I may be mistaking it for sf2ce... will check that one up later..)
Had a play around more with the snes - Fantastic.... better than the standalone Wii snes emu for most games (hell, looks far better as well as runs!), even decided to try out Starfox - slowdown does become apparent in busy areas, but in my opinion it's still very much playable. Also the GBA core doesn't do that bad a job either - comparable to the standalone emu once again, and some games (the Sonic Advance ones in particular) once again run better!
Loving it!!

 

[VatoLoco]

@the RetroArch team:
love the project=)

now forgive my naivety as im definitely no coder, but would it be possible to add some sort of argv protocol to all the cores, so that individual games could be direct booted (via postLoader, and if i recall correctly usbloaderGX and wiiflow).

as it is, when i try to boot a game directly (through postLoader's emulator plugin option) it takes me to the emulator instead of booting the game (only tried with the FBA core).