Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

[Vague Rant]

Right, I understand the complexities of output resolution vs. aspect ratio. I know old games were mostly designed for 4:3 or 3:4 for vertically oriented games and that using square pixels will push them way out of aspect in many cases. This isn't really what I'm trying to point out. Perhaps some images will help. This is what RetroArch looks like on my TVs:

4:3
empty space -->

 

[Toad King]

In the emulator settings, you should be able to change the aspect ratio to a large collection of values, Auto (width : height), or a core-provided ratio (in CPS2 games, this is identical to width : height). There is no option to always stretch to fill the entire screen.

 

[Vague Rant]

I know, and I've been using the aspect ratio settings, and I have literally zero interest in having RetroArch stretch everything to full screen. My issue is that RA literally cannot use 10% of my screen, regardless of what preset/custom AR I use. RetroArch is pillarboxed at all times, but behaves as if it isn't. Setting RA to 16:9 displays an 8:5 active area inside a 16:9 image, as in the image above. To get an "accurate", 4:3 picture, I have to set my TV to 16:9 and RetroArch to 3:2.

EDIT: Here's a photo.
I have a 16:9 TV set, which is in 16:9 mode, the Wii is set to 16:9 and as you can see in the photo, so is RetroArch. In this scenario, the (16:9) picture on the (16:9) TV should fill the (16:9) display area. My point isn't that I actually want to play like this, it's that RA runs pillarboxed and all the aspect ratios are wrong for this reason.

EDIT2: Comparison shot.
For comparison, here's Wii64 (kind of; it's Extrems's Not64) displaying in correct 16:9 with no pillarboxing. This is important because it means games can run in their correct aspect ratio and without any unnecessary stretching on the TV end simply by setting the TV itself to 4:3. In RetroArch, this would result in a squished image as in the simulated shot I posted earlier.

I don't mean to sound demanding or dicky in any other way; I love RetroArch, I just hope somebody understands what I'm getting at soon and can do a better job than I have at explaining the issue.

 

[Toad King]

I know, and I've been using the aspect ratio settings, and I have literally zero interest in having RetroArch stretch everything to full screen. My issue is that RA literally cannot use 10% of my screen, regardless of what preset/custom AR I use. RetroArch is pillarboxed at all times, but behaves as if it isn't. Setting RA to 16:9 displays an 8:5 active area inside a 16:9 image, as in the image above. To get an "accurate", 4:3 picture, I have to set my TV to 16:9 and RetroArch to 3:2.

EDIT: Here's a photo.
I have a 16:9 TV set, which is in 16:9 mode, the Wii is set to 16:9 and as you can see in the photo, so is RetroArch. In this scenario, the (16:9) picture on the (16:9) TV should fill the (16:9) display area. My point isn't that I actually want to play like this, it's that RA runs pillarboxed and all the aspect ratios are wrong for this reason.

EDIT2: Comparison shot.
For comparison, here's Wii64 (kind of; it's Extrems's Not64) displaying in correct 16:9 with no pillarboxing. This is important because it means games can run in their correct aspect ratio and without any unnecessary stretching on the TV end simply by setting the TV itself to 4:3. In RetroArch, this would result in a squished image as in the simulated shot I posted earlier.

I don't mean to sound demanding or dicky in any other way; I love RetroArch, I just hope somebody understands what I'm getting at soon and can do a better job than I have at explaining the issue.

Are you able to expand the image past those black bars if you try setting a custom viewport? If not, then it might be a bug in our VI code.

Also, make sure you set to screen resolution to 16:9 in the Wii System Menu as well, since that's what it uses to calculate the correct aspect ratio.

 

[Hielkenator]

I know, and I've been using the aspect ratio settings, and I have literally zero interest in having RetroArch stretch everything to full screen. My issue is that RA literally cannot use 10% of my screen, regardless of what preset/custom AR I use. RetroArch is pillarboxed at all times, but behaves as if it isn't. Setting RA to 16:9 displays an 8:5 active area inside a 16:9 image, as in the image above. To get an "accurate", 4:3 picture, I have to set my TV to 16:9 and RetroArch to 3:2.

EDIT: Here's a photo.
I have a 16:9 TV set, which is in 16:9 mode, the Wii is set to 16:9 and as you can see in the photo, so is RetroArch. In this scenario, the (16:9) picture on the (16:9) TV should fill the (16:9) display area. My point isn't that I actually want to play like this, it's that RA runs pillarboxed and all the aspect ratios are wrong for this reason.

EDIT2: Comparison shot.
For comparison, here's Wii64 (kind of; it's Extrems's Not64) displaying in correct 16:9 with no pillarboxing. This is important because it means games can run in their correct aspect ratio and without any unnecessary stretching on the TV end simply by setting the TV itself to 4:3. In RetroArch, this would result in a squished image as in the simulated shot I posted earlier.

I don't mean to sound demanding or dicky in any other way; I love RetroArch, I just hope somebody understands what I'm getting at soon and can do a better job than I have at explaining the issue.

Yes, you are right.
The output is squished.

Try setting your tv to 4:3 and the ratio in retroarch also.

 

[Vague Rant]

Are you able to expand the image past those black bars if you try setting a custom viewport? If not, then it might be a bug in our VI code.

Nope, anything that goes beyond the bars is simply not visible. I've tried pushing the image outside the bars by editing the viewport in the .cfg, adjusting the custom AR in-app, and even just pumping up the overscan.

Also, make sure you set to screen resolution to 16:9 in the Wii System Menu as well, since that's what it uses to calculate the correct aspect ratio.

I made sure to check with the Wii itself in both 16:9 and 4:3, they both show the same squishing.

 

[corey89]

It's a wiki, not a news site. In most cases developers are responsible for creating pages for their apps.

They can wait along time for that to happen then for me to go to the effort of creating my own wiki pages for my own project on a totally separate site from my own. In any other scene, these things get created by the community - Elotrolado creates wiki articles all the time for every emulator release, including RetroArch 360/PS3/Xbox 1/Wii - never have I had to 'create' this stuff for myself.

Hey guys,

In an effort to help out the cause, I started the Wiibrew wiki.

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page

You can see it on the front page and I posted the readme on it. I just registered on wiibrew just for this, so that's why it's very rough. I will try to keep it up to date, but anyone else that can help out putting images and nicer formatting, please go ahead. Let's try to make it a good place to check the status of the project, so we don't have to read a million forum posts or bug LibRetroArch with things that have already been requested (I will put up a list there).



-Joseph

I fixed the layout to look more in line with the other wiki entires, so it should be much easier to update and keep track of addition and changes on the entry now.

http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/RetroArch_Wii

 

[yaketyJack]

It's a wiki, not a news site. In most cases developers are responsible for creating pages for their apps.

They can wait along time for that to happen then for me to go to the effort of creating my own wiki pages for my own project on a totally separate site from my own. In any other scene, these things get created by the community - Elotrolado creates wiki articles all the time for every emulator release, including RetroArch 360/PS3/Xbox 1/Wii - never have I had to 'create' this stuff for myself.

Hey guys,

In an effort to help out the cause, I started the Wiibrew wiki.

http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page

You can see it on the front page and I posted the readme on it. I just registered on wiibrew just for this, so that's why it's very rough. I will try to keep it up to date, but anyone else that can help out putting images and nicer formatting, please go ahead. Let's try to make it a good place to check the status of the project, so we don't have to read a million forum posts or bug LibRetroArch with things that have already been requested (I will put up a list there).



-Joseph

I fixed the layout to look more in line with the other wiki entires, so it should be much easier to update and keep track of addition and changes on the entry now.

http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/RetroArch_Wii

Thanks man! I did it last night past midnight, I am glad you made it look so clean now. Lets hope LibRetroArch likes it ;-)

 

[the_randomizer]

Whoever maintains the Wiibrew Wiki page might want to include the recently released bugfix Snes9x Next that fixes the FF6-specific glitches.

Should be on the previous page.

 

[oji]

Could there be some filter implemented to the FBA core? it's too hard for a newbie to realize which ROM for what plattform is — FBA Romset is pretty huge.

 

[Gamecuber]

Could there be some filter implemented to the FBA core? it's too hard for a newbie to realize which ROM for what plattform is — FBA Romset is pretty huge.

You can get gamelist.txt from FBANext for XBOX360. It lists romname and its hardware.
It is more easy than coding a filter for RetroArch for now.
here is a part of it.

This list contains all games supported by FB Alpha.
5710 games supported in total; X = excluded from build; D = included in debug build only; NW = not working
name status full name parent year company hardware remarks
+---------------+-------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+---------------+---------------+---------------------------------------+
| pce_nikopun | D NW | "pce_nikopun" | | 1991 | PC Engine | | NHK Enterprise |
| pce_pcdenj | D NW | "pce_pcdenj" | | 1992 | PC Engine | | Hudson |
| pce_ptennis | D NW | "pce_ptennis" | | 1993 | PC Engine | | Hudson |
| pce_scdsys | D NW | "pce_scdsys" | | 19?? | PC Engine | | Hudson |
| pce_tennokoe | D NW | "pce_tennokoe" | | 1991 | PC Engine | | Hudson |
| pce_xserd | D NW | "pce_xserd" | | 1990 | PC Engine | | Masiya |
| phoenix | NW | "phoenix" | | 1980 | Miscellaneous | | Amstar |
| puzzli2 | D NW | "puzzli2" | | 2001 | PolyGameMaster| | IGS |
| tg_airzonk | D NW | "tg_airzonk" | | 1992 | TurboGrafx 16 | | Hudson Soft |
| tg_cdsys | D NW | "tg_cdsys" | | 19?? | TurboGrafx 16 | | NEC |
| tg_scdsys | D NW | "tg_scdsys" | | 19?? | TurboGrafx 16 | | NEC |
| thepit | NW | "thepit" | | 1992 | Miscellaneous | | Taito |
| victnine | D NW | "victnine" | | 1984 | Miscellaneous | | Taito |
| 88games | | '88 Games | | 1988 | Konami | GX861 | |
| 99lstwar | | '99: The Last War | repulse | 1985 | Proma | Kyugo | |
| 99lstwara | | '99: The Last War (alternate) | repulse | 1985 | Proma | Kyugo | |
| 99lstwark | | '99: The Last War (Kyugo) | repulse | 1985 | Kyugo | Kyugo | |
| md_007shitou | | 007 Shitou - The Duel (Jpn) | md_jb007 | 1993 | Tengen | Sega Megadrive| |
| gtmra | | 1000 Miglia: Great 1000 Miles Rally (94/06/13) | gtmr | 1994 | Kaneko | Kaneko16 | |
| gtmr | | 1000 Miglia: Great 1000 Miles Rally (94/07/18) | | 1994 | Kaneko | Kaneko16 | |
| md_12in1 | | 12 in 1 | | 199? | | Sega Megadrive| |
| md_13mahjan | | 13 Ma Jiang - 98 Mei Shao Nu Pian (Chi) | | 1998 | BBD | Sega Megadrive| |
| md_16tongnk | | 16 Ton (Jpn, Game no Kandume MegaCD Rip) | md_16ton | 1991 | Sega | Sega Megadrive| |
| md_16ton | | 16 Ton (Jpn, SegaNet) | | 1991 | Sega | Sega Megadrive| |
| md_16zhan | | 16 Zhang Ma Jiang (Chi) | | 199? | | Sega Megadrive| |
| sgx_1941 | | 1941 - Counter Attack | | 1991 | Hudson | SuperGrafx | |
| 1941u | | 1941 - Counter Attack (900227 USA) | 1941 | 1990 | Capcom | CPS1 | |
| 1941 | | 1941 - Counter Attack (900227 World) | | 1990 | Capcom | CPS1 | |
| 1941j | | 1941 - Counter Attack (Japan) | 1941 | 1990 | Capcom | CPS1 | |
| 1941r1 | | 1941 - Counter Attack (World) | 1941 | 1990 | Capcom | CPS1 | |
| 1942b | | 1942 (First Version) | 1942 | 1984 | Capcom | Miscellaneous | |
| 1942a | | 1942 (Revision A) | 1942 | 1984 | Capcom | Miscellaneous | |
| 1942abl | | 1942 (Revision A, bootleg) | 1942 | 1984 | Capcom | Miscellaneous | |
| 1942 | | 1942 (Revision B) | | 1984 | Capcom | Miscellaneous | |
.........

 

[TenkuuBuster]

You can always separate your files into folders, but I don't know of any automatic way to do that.

 

[oji]

You can get gamelist.txt from FBANext for XBOX360. It lists romname and its hardware.

Thank you, i'll try it.

You can always separate your files into folders, but I don't know of any automatic way to do that.

Clrmamepro make no difference between the CPS1 & CPS2, they both are "GENERIC", but using the list mentioned by Gamecuber it's not too hard to write a script.

 

[OriginalHamster]

Welcome to the forums =)
By the way your avatar seems too familiar to me, do you post on NeoGAF?

 

[Disorarara]

This might be an oversight, but I noticed that when you use the gamecube pad to enter the menu, there's no actual way to leave the menu using the gamecube pad since the combination doesn't work there, the only way to leave the menu is to reset the game.

 

[oji]

I've executed the script with the "FB Alpha 0.2.97.26" romset. It's folder "roms" contains 2958 files. Script parser brought me the report:

Neo-Geo: 285
CPS1: 223
CPS2: 279
Total count: 787 files

Is that looks like true & other 2171 files are from different systems?

 

[quepaso]

The easiest way to sort the roms is to use the PC emu, then when loading the roms, it allows you to show the games by what board they work on, like CPS1/CPS2/Neogeo etc. I separated the games into folders myself that way and that made things a lot easier.

 

[catuligbat]

Here post my FBA romset in folders for each system (i create this folders manually (pain in ass to make: aprox 3000 roms) using list in FBA emulator for win (in this emulator select each system with list zipnames for roms) but after make appears this:

 

[oji]

218 vs 223
283 vs 279
275 vs 285

Seems pretty realistic, thank you. But doing this manually — you are crazy, man, this is too boring for me. )) Here is the 10 minutes hindu-like powershell code for three platforms but it's easy to add others:

Clear-Host
$games = Get-Content -Path c:\temp\fbanext\gamelist.txt
$InFolder="D:\Downloads\FB Alpha 0.2.97.26\roms\"
$OutFolder="c:\temp\fbanext\"
$NeoGeo=0
$CPS1=0
$CPS2=0
for ($i = 1; $i -lt $games.count; $i++) {
if ($games[$i] -match "(^\|\s)(\w+)(\s{0,}\|\s)(.+)(CPS1)") {
$CPS1++
Copy-Item $($InFolder + $Matches[2]+ ".zip") $($OutFolder + 'CPS1\'+ $Matches[2]+ ".zip")
}
if ($games[$i] -match "(^\|\s)(\w+)(\s{0,}\|\s)(.+)(CPS2)") {
$CPS2++
Copy-Item $($InFolder + $Matches[2]+ ".zip") $($OutFolder + 'CPS2\'+ $Matches[2]+ ".zip")
}
if ($games[$i] -match "(^\|\s)(\w+)(\s{0,}\|\s)(.+)(Neo Geo MVS)") {
$NeoGeo++
Copy-Item $($InFolder + $Matches[2]+ ".zip") $($OutFolder + 'NeoGeo\'+ $Matches[2]+ ".zip")
}
}

Write-Host "Neo-Geo: " $NeoGeo
Write-Host "CPS1: " $CPS1
Write-Host "CPS2: " $CPS2
Write-Host "Total Count: " $($CPS2+$CPS1+$NeoGeo)

 

[Jate]

Hello

I have been trying the last version (Retroarch 0.9.7.2 por SNES9x-next) and i find some problems:

- when I change core and restart, the wii is blocked.

- the option "debug info" only run with the code snes9x-next? with other cores it does not appear

Thanks