Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

[LibretroRetroArc]

That's for sure, I hate anything on modern HDTV's thats not using AT LEAST 720p. Heck, I hate many things about the HD era, especially motion blur and input lag, and many more things I could mention that is beyond the scope of this discussion.

I listed to both of those files, and I most definitely prefer mono. Stereo just sounds...wrong. But that's just me I guess. Is that the Famicom Disk version of Castlevania III? Love the sound of that thing.

As far as LibretroRetroArc adding an option to disable stereo for Nestopia, I have no idea and I'm scared to ask because I know that this guy is already hard at work with probably more than you or I could handle.......and he does it for free I believe......

Maister likes adding that 'pseudo-stereo' hack all the time in NES emus - he does it to FCEUmm too. Guess we need to make that optional.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

I just tested the latest version that Toad King posted and it still is incorrect. Unfortunately my budget is too thin to gift you guys a CCP, but if you need any help testing I'd be glad to.

That's like finding a needle in a haystack, sorry. Blind coding is not going to work here. I need the pad in order to fix it and no way am I going to take money out of my own paycheck in order to buy something I don't need.

EDIT: Removed the rest of the post because it just isn't worth it.

 

[the_randomizer]

Maister likes adding that 'pseudo-stereo' hack all the time in NES emus - he does it to FCEUmm too. Guess we need to make that optional.

Is that going to be excruciatingly difficult to change? I don't want to make your programming experience a living hell Any info on the tinny sound issues?

What I mean is, you're busy enough with programming, life, etc to be bothered with trivial matters with end users.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Is that going to be excruciatingly difficult to change? I don't want to make your programming experience a living hell Any info on the tinny sound issues?

It should be simple - but downside is that (as mono implies) sound will only come out of one channel.

I dunno about 'tinny sound issues' - do you get it with Nestopia Undead on PC?

 

[the_randomizer]

It should be simple - but downside is that (as mono implies) sound will only come out of one channel.

I dunno about 'tinny sound issues' - do you get it with Nestopia Undead on PC?

Nope. Happens in the Snes9x Next, too, i.e. the Konami sound is off, but it affects other sound effects as well. The Breath of Fire 2 cure sound is affected by the same bug. So, I think it may be a bug the audio driver itself, or libogc. Snes9x GX gets the Konami sound right, but Snes9x Next...yeah, something prevents it (among other SFX) from outputting properly. It's probably too damn difficult to pinpoint, much less neutralize. Imagine recording sound at 22 KHz as opposed to the normal 44; that's what it sounds like.

 

[the_randomizer]

It should be simple - but downside is that (as mono implies) sound will only come out of one channel.

I dunno about 'tinny sound issues' - do you get it with Nestopia Undead on PC?

Stupid double post.

You can have mono channel, but have it routed to two speakers, it's just duplicated and not independent. That's at least how it sounds on my headphones and speakers. Two speakers, one channel.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Nope. Happens in the Snes9x Next, too, i.e. the Konami sound is off, but it affects other sound effects as well. The Breath of Fire 2 cure sound is affected by the same bug. So, I think it may be a bug the audio driver itself, or libogc. Snes9x GX gets the Konami sound right, but Snes9x Next...yeah, something prevents it (among other SFX) from outputting properly. It's probably too damn difficult to pinpoint, much less neutralize. Imagine recording sound at 22 KHz as opposed to the normal 44; that's what it sounds like.

I'm pretty sure the 'incorrect sound' issue in SNES9x Next is just something I inadvertently broke in the APU core. I'm pretty sure I can get that patched up but it will just require a lot of scrutinizing work.

NEStopia is unrelated. It might be that the NEStopia resampler does a better job here for whatever reason than RetroArch's resampler - that is just a guess BTW - don't take it to the bank.

 

[Jacobeian]

lol... once again you are going crazy for nothing
quoted from wintermute on devkitpro page

I don't intend to ever charge money for the toolchains directly - part of the philosophy with these tools is that everyone should have access to those, regardless of ability to pay. There are some other possibilities with some hardware prototypes I'm working on related to homebrew and some of the other systems that people use devkitARM for. A while ago I was asked by a publisher if I'd be interested in writing a book on homebrew programming, which actually I would but obviously that needs some other revenue to support me while it's being worked on.

the guy is trying to make a living of its passion, instead of being a slave of the game industry, after having spent the last ten years working on the best FREE homebrew devkit, and he clearly said it was going to remain free... give him a break

as for your issues with libogc/libwiiuse, what is it with you that you ALWAYS have to bitch about other people work and calls out people name ? do you think it will put yours in a better light ? I personally have no issue with the official libogc/libwiiuse and all my controllers (classical or not) works fine in other homebrew so it's logical to assume that whatever fix you think you applied, they went wrong. If some controllers do not work properly In libogc, that´s because the protocol that is used is not fully documented and the lib only covers most common cases. Now, if only people were actually investigating why they don't work instead of criticizing people who did the initial job...

Honestly, I don't know why you have so much hate against libogc but let me clear another misassumption for you: there never was any "witch hunt" against illegal SDK in the gamecube/wii scene, the reasons nobody bothered with them were that it was too complicated to compile anything with it (requires a specific Metrowerks compiler) or run anything compiled with it on a retail console AND that devkitppc/libogc was already bringing all that was needed. Yes it is based on a reverse-engineered SDK (nobody EVER denied that), yes it is not perfect but it´s free and it works fine for most homebrew released these past seven years.

Good job with the Android release anyway, i am truly impressed by your work and your dedication to this project, if only you wouldn't waste all this energy in bashing people or creating drama when none exist.

 

[the_randomizer]

I'm pretty sure the 'incorrect sound' issue in SNES9x Next is just something I inadvertently broke in the APU core. I'm pretty sure I can get that patched up but it will just require a lot of scrutinizing work.

Gotcha, good to know we're on the same page; at least I'm not going crazy with auditory hallucinations. As with Nestopia, I'm fine with mono, but there's no reason why it would only come out in one speaker, the mono channel is duplicated through two speakers just fine in the Windows version.

Spoiler

And that's a wrap, I'll stop bothering you with trivial "reports"; you have enough trouble dealing with annoying people elsewhere I'm sure. I should go to bed soon...it's already 2:06 AM

 

[xPiranha]

That's like finding a needle in a haystack, sorry. Blind coding is not going to work here. I need the pad in order to fix it and no way am I going to take money out of my own paycheck in order to buy something I don't need.

EDIT: Removed the rest of the post because it just isn't worth it.

You don't need a CC pro, you made the same stupid mistake in the nunchuk code. I guess you didn't notice because you were too busy blaming your mistakes on everyone else.

 

[the_randomizer]

You don't need a CC pro, you made the same stupid mistake in the nunchuk code. I guess you didn't notice because you were too busy blaming your mistakes on everyone else.

Someone here had their sweet roll stolen and took an arrow to the knee.

Spoiler

Back off, he doesn't like being harassed by people who are as bitter as you. Don't be such a dick about it. Don't like it, don't use it.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

You don't need a CC pro, you made the same stupid mistake in the nunchuk code. I guess you didn't notice because you were too busy blaming your mistakes on everyone else.

I removed that post because I knew exactly what was in store. EDIT: Removed this as well - see note below.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

lol... once again you are going crazy for nothing
quoted from wintermute on devkitpro page

the guy is trying to make a living of its passion, instead of being a slave of the game industry, after having spent the last ten years working on the best FREE homebrew devkit, and he clearly said it was going to remain free... give him a break

I have tried arguing for years that this industry is bad, and yet all the supposed 'hardcore hackers' in these underground console scenes make it their personal mission in life to 'defend the games industry' at all costs. Obviously you can see the disconnect here between wanting to be 'good' and 'nice' to the PR industry execs that are raking in all the cash and then arguing that anything to do with 'piracy' steals from the very same artists/coders that these PR execs are mistreating and screwing in the first thing. Here's the thing - not a single dime more is going to the coffers of artists/coders just because you elect to buy a game in droves at retail stores - the artists/coders in this sweatshop industry get treated like WWF wrestlers - independent contractors - no benefit, no equities, no unions, no retirement plan, no nothing. In other words, they get treated like shit and once they've sapped the life force out of these guys (a nervous breakdown before they hit 30) they are replaced with another worker drone who they 'use up' in the very same way. So once again, how is it that we haven't yet seen any 'boycott the industry' initiatives taken up given all that by this great oh-so-wonderful 'we haven't sold out - oh no - not a chance in hell' hacker community? It's just pathetic how this small 'hacker clique' defends the interests of big business so blatantly while pretending to be 'moral' about it and now it seems even some of the guys out there now - the devkitpro guy - is getting a taste of his own medicine and seeing what this industry is 'all about' - there's nothing moral in defending scumbag bigshots in the videogames industry. Yes, they bring food onto the table for your average worker drone - at least for a while - at least until you hit your late 20s/early 30s and you're viewed as 'too expensive' compared to the fresh 20-year old guy that is standing in line to replace you. That, or a bunch of Indian sweatshop workers who get paid the same salary in total as one western employee.

Anyway - I deleted the previous post for a reason - I already stated 'EDIT: Not worth it'.

Now please don't degenerate this thread like the last time (not talking about you - but when it degenerated the last time due to some other thing). I removed what I said for a reason.

EDIT: Edited the stuff for now due to somebody alerting me to the problem - my fault (probably). Points about the 'industry' still stand and no - 'homebrew' should not be a 'business' IMHO - but hey, I've heard enough circular reasoning about 'there's nothing wrong with charging for GPL code' so I'm pretty sure I'm going to hear all about how 'homebrew doesn't mean free as in libre/beer/whatever' - whatever.

 

[Charco]

Hi, can you confirm whether PGM games work on Wii in your tests LibretroRetroArc?

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Hi, can you confirm whether PGM games work on Wii in your tests LibretroRetroArc?

A lot of them won't fit into memory with the current FBA version (0.2.97.28). I'm pulling 0.2.97.26 out of retirement as a second FBA version so that we have less problems. That will take some time (a day).

 

[Charco]

Great, thanks for that and no rush.

 

[xPiranha]

I removed that post because I knew exactly what was in store. I'm sorry that your Dear Leader got offended, but here's the thing - it's STILL BROKEN after that 'oh so wonderful fix' by your Dear Leader (that once again - DID NOT FIX ANYTHING). So how about that? How many more excuses are you going to create before you're going to admit there is a problem here in this bad copy-and-paste job of wiiuse?

Go on - you're the great coding master here (apparently - I don't even know who you are) - you go and tell me what is purportedly all so 'wrong' with the current input code - go ahead hotshot - put up or shut up time.

https://github.com/Themaister/RetroArch/blob/master/gx/gx_input.c

Here - linking it directly - now you can't ignore it.

First let's look at the code before you fucked it up: https://github.com/Themaister/RetroArch/blob/0f2e36d34921ef767042173f54f575c3cd2e62b7/gx/gx_input.c
In particular:

#define gx_stick_x(x) ((s8)((sin((x).ang * M_PI / 180.0f)) * (x).mag * 128.0f))
#define gx_stick_y(x) ((s8)((cos((x).ang * M_PI / 180.0f)) * (x).mag * 128.0f))

Which you "fixed" by changing it to:

double ljs_val_x = ljs_mag * cos(M_PI * ljs_ang / 180.0);
double ljs_val_y = ljs_mag * sin(M_PI * ljs_ang / 180.0);

Do you see the problem dipshit? You mixed up sin and cos, and if you actually managed to make it through high school math you should know those functions are offset by 90 degrees - matching exactly what people were describing with the directions being mapped wrong. It's not a needle in a haystack, it's a big glowing neon sign that says "YOU FAIL IT".

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

First let's look at the code before you fucked it up: https://github.com/Themaister/RetroArch/blob/0f2e36d34921ef767042173f54f575c3cd2e62b7/gx/gx_input.c
In particular:

#define gx_stick_x(x) ((s8)((sin((x).ang * M_PI / 180.0f)) * (x).mag * 128.0f))
#define gx_stick_y(x) ((s8)((cos((x).ang * M_PI / 180.0f)) * (x).mag * 128.0f))

That gx_stick code we copy and pasted from another one of the dozens of GX codebases out there BTW - 'good dosage of doing it wrong' seems to be all over the preexisting codebases then.

Which you "fixed" by changing it to:

double ljs_val_x = ljs_mag * cos(M_PI * ljs_ang / 180.0);
double ljs_val_y = ljs_mag * sin(M_PI * ljs_ang / 180.0);

That wasn't all I did - I also had to 'clamp' on ang and mag to get decent and tolerable analog values out of it - and no, this wasn't obvious even to ekeeke - I found that 'hack' somewhere in another codebase (GX Quake I believe) with a note by ekeeke saying that he had to work around analog problems by doing clamping.

Do you see the problem dipshit? You mixed up sin and cos, and if you actually managed to make it through high school math you should know those functions are offset by 90 degrees - matching exactly what people were describing with the directions being mapped wrong. It's not a needle in a haystack, it's a big glowing neon sign that says "YOU FAIL IT".

OK, I accede I screwed up here - thanks for pointing it out (it didn't affect my Classic Controller though so I wasn't even aware the problem was there). And if you're marcan BTW, it isn't as if you haven't been 'put in your place' in the PS3 scene with theories that were just plain wrong - just saying - modesty would suit you because we all get things wrong.

There's something to be said for 'making a typo' and it being non-obvious when you have to stare at 5/6 platforms' codebases all day, all night long.

But hell, namecalling doesn't phase me - here, I'm even big enough just to put a note in my README saying 'Credits: xPiranha - told Squarepusher in big glowing neon signs 'YOU FAIL' and that he never finished high school'. If the issue is fixed, that's all I care about anyway.

EDIT: There, twitterized it - now it's part of the public record -

'libretro ‏@libretro
Putting out a new Wii release soon with a big glowing neon sign that 'I FAIL' - probably due to me never finishing high school maths (uhuh).'

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

Ok, well I think I have them. The first game loads correctly and the second fails. No matter what game or order. I guess you don't have this problem so it must be something on my SD. I'll try a clean install.

I too have this problem with neogeo games. Black screen on the second game (but no freeze, I can still navigate the menu and launch other CPS1/2 roms).
However not a big issue, I can manually restart the emulator every time.
Thanks for porting Retroarch to the Wii, I really appreciate all the work that you put into this.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

I too have this problem with neogeo games. Black screen on the second game (but no freeze, I can still navigate the menu and launch other CPS1/2 roms).
However not a big issue, I can manually restart the emulator every time.
Thanks for porting Retroarch to the Wii, I really appreciate all the work that you put into this.

FBA 0.2.97.26 will probably fare better here - I'm pretty sure it's due to memory footprints having gone up and FBA has always had a bit of a problem releasing all previously allocated resources in reentrancy (it wasn't really made with reentrancy in mind) - so the issue is probably more pronounced on 0.2.97.28 than it was on 0.2.97.26.

 

[Coto]

Yeah, what I most hate about "talented" people, is when they think they're awesome, maybe too awesome for humankind. They should be shot because they're too awesome.

I tend to respect coders knowing they're humans and keeping in mind that HUMANS can DO MOTHERFUCKING HUMAN MISTAKES too.

-

Many thanks to libretroteam for all their support.