Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

[hicandturkey]

I can't seem to get my CPS1 and CPS2 games to play. The roms are in Zip format. I am making sure to use the correct core when attempting to play them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the CPS games do not require any BIOS files correct? When I try to run the games, I am getting the "error occurred during rom loading" message. It's happening to all of the games as far as I can see. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

 

[nakata6790]

Try downloading roms specifically for FBA (0.97).

~500 games (cps1, cps2, arcade) work great with the fba core . There is a list in page 39.

 

[hicandturkey]

So I was able to get a hold of a 0.2.97.26 romset, but I still get the same "ERROR - An error occurred during ROM loading". Oh yeah, and this seems to be happening to my NeoGeo games as well. Thoughts?

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

So I was able to get a hold of a 0.2.97.26 romset, but I still get the same "ERROR - An error occurred during ROM loading". Oh yeah, and this seems to be happening to my NeoGeo games as well. Thoughts?

The next release (which will come with a new FBA version) will ignore 'optional but non-required' ROM files that are missing in your archive, so you don't have to go hunting for a specific neogeo.zip file that comes all the 'optional' UniBIOS files.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

BTW - I just wanted to state that the people who have been complaining about input lag with Wii Classic controllers might have been onto something.

Main problem is that libogc didn't even write their own Wii input code - it uses a hacked-up version of a pre-existing PC Wiimote library called wiiuse, and it doesn't really work all that well from my tests (at least on the Wii it doesn't). The most irritating thing I've found is that D-pad controls on Wii Classic tend to sometimes 'stick' - for instance, if you press and hold right for a long time then suddenly you press left to make a quick change of direction of your character, it can get 'stuck' either down or leftwards.

I now build this library in seperately in RetroArch Wii and tried to make it somewhat more responsive but the central issue is still there. Overall, very disappointing to see libogc didn't even go to the effort of writing their own Wiimote handling code - and after all those years they still haven't bothered fixing the central issues (but they do like piling on lots of useless 'gee whiz' crap to it like Wii Balance Board support and Guitar Hero support - ie. stuff that adds even more layers of indirection to what is already suboptimal input code and which probably two or three people really intend to use).

 

[sideskroll]

BTW - I just wanted to state that the people who have been complaining about input lag with Wii Classic controllers might have been onto something.

Main problem is that libogc didn't even write their own Wii input code - it uses a hacked-up version of a pre-existing PC Wiimote library called wiiuse, and it doesn't really work all that well from my tests (at least on the Wii it doesn't). The most irritating thing I've found is that D-pad controls on Wii Classic tend to sometimes 'stick' - for instance, if you press and hold right for a long time then suddenly you press left to make a quick change of direction of your character, it can get 'stuck' either down or leftwards.

I now build this library in seperately in RetroArch Wii and tried to make it somewhat more responsive but the central issue is still there. Overall, very disappointing to see libogc didn't even go to the effort of writing their own Wiimote handling code - and after all those years they still haven't bothered fixing the central issues (but they do like piling on lots of useless 'gee whiz' crap to it like Wii Balance Board support and Guitar Hero support - ie. stuff that adds even more layers of indirection to what is already suboptimal input code and which probably two or three people really intend to use).

Dude! We told you! see? THANK YOU for acknowledging it. Now maybe there's a chance for the problem to be solved.
(from HACKMII changelog)

The new RVL-CNT-01-TR Wiimotes are now supported. Unfortunately, although HBC itself will work, there’s no way it can make existing homebrew work with it too – authors will have to recompile using the latest libogc SVN. C’est la vie!

Lemme tell you: It feels SOOO GOOD to be right

 

[hicandturkey]

The next release (which will come with a new FBA version) will ignore 'optional but non-required' ROM files that are missing in your archive, so you don't have to go hunting for a specific neogeo.zip file that comes all the 'optional' UniBIOS files.

Awesome. Any idea when the next release is scheduled? Also, I was finally able to get all of the FBA games to run. The issue was that I renamed the games to something else instead of the standard naming convention (i.e.:sfa.zip) and retroarch didn't like that I guess. Once I named them back everything was able to run fine. Is there anyway to rename the games to files that are easier to understand like something along the lines of "Street Fighter Alpha.zip" while allowing them to play?

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Dude! We told you!

You should have told the Hackmii/libogc/whatever guys instead since they are apparently responsible for this (or not really, as they can't claim to have even written this code themselves - since they 'copy pasted' the Wiimote code to begin with and just 'hacked it' to have it work with this 'SDK'). We, as 'lowly' homebrew devs, are dependent on them getting their SDK right so that we can have things like decent input, graphics and audio. If they fail at that job, then everything stops.

The expectations are different for SDK makers as opposed to 'regular homebrew' -if you make an API, a toolchain, or an SDK, you must know that with power comes great responsibility - you must make it right or else it's useless. The same goes for an SDK - there can be zero room for tolerance. A broken toolchain or a broken SDK is similarly useless - a tool not doing what it's supposed to do is no longer a tool. A program not doing what it's supposed to do can be 'fixed' later - but an 'SDK' that people depend upon to make their homebrew with can't be expected the same luxury - people are investing their time getting something to work properly that (it turns out later) was entirely an external party's fault, and that's when it moves from 'annoying' and 'oh well they aren't getting paid to do it' to just aggravating and just wishing you could fall back on something that works instead (like I can do on PS3 and 360).

- see? THANK YOU for acknowledging it. Now maybe there's a chance for the problem to be solved.
(from HACKMII changelog)

The new RVL-CNT-01-TR Wiimotes are now supported. Unfortunately, although HBC itself will work, there’s no way it can make existing homebrew work with it too – authors will have to recompile using the latest libogc SVN. C’est la vie!

Lemme tell you: It feels SOOO GOOD to be right

Unfortunately that 'changelog' from Hackmii only reaffirms the basic problem that is wrong with this scene - they keep piling on more and more stuff to a shaky foundation (this 'wiiuse' hackjob) that should be totally gutted and rebuilt from the ground up - because this code just doesn't pass the smell test - and it probably should never have been included into mainline libogc in its current state. It's a very poor hackjob of a pre-existing PC Wiimote library. They seem to think their 'shit doesn't stink' - let me tell you, it does. First stage of solving a problem is admitting there is one, and there is a very, very big problem here with this 'homebrew console SDK' (more like an IDA reversing job of commercial non-free SDK) at least in terms of input (an essential part of any program you'd want to write with an SDK like this I'd say).

This is exactly the reason I sticked with 'commercial/warez' SDKs on PS3 and 360 so that I could avoid issues like this where the high and mighty 'homebrew hacker gods' can't get their thing together and I could just 'get the job done' and ignore their duct-tape SDKs (yeah, FLOSS people dislike hearing that but it's the truth - if your SDK doesn't work and is inferior to the official one, then that is exactly what people are going to use if it means 'getting the job done').

BTW - not to fuel the flames but I saw this Jacobeian guy a few pages ago mocking me about my stance on these childish 'console scenes' (and dying out now to Android and iOS I'd like to add) and just for him here's my take on it again in case he didn't get the memo yet - this age where we're all supposed to bow down to a couple of 'homebrew SDK maker' gods is over and done with, deal with it. I'm tired of this childish 'appeal to authority' dog and pony show with homebrew SDK makers pretending as if they aren't basing this stuff 100% on 'commercial warez SDKs' to begin with - look at the function prototypes of libogc and the Revolution SDK and it's exactly the same - in other words, I don't want to hear any phony moralistic crap anytime from these guys just because I can't get behind their IDA Pro hackjob (done with keygenned IDA Pro 'copies' to begin with - itself 'warez' to begin with). It should not be my job to have to wrestle with some incomplete hackfest of an input layer (which was not even written from scratch to begin with) that apparently has never been properly stress-tested before or else these issues would have come to light and been fixed years ago.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

BTW the_randomizer - we fixed a bug in SNES9x Next today that could potentially corrupt memory locations over time due to that function not early returning. Not sure if this is related to your performance issue with Final Fantasy III and whether or not it will fix it but just thought I should mention it so you can retest it on the new version when it's released.

 

[the_randomizer]

BTW the_randomizer - we fixed a bug today in SNES9x Next today that could potentially corrupt memory locations over time due to that function not early returning. Not sure if this is related to your performance issue with Final Fantasy III and whether or not it will fix it but just thought I should mention it so you can retest it on the new version when it's released.

Sure, I'll retest it to make sure nothing was broken once it's released Keep up the good work! Do you know if that Konami sound bug was fixed (among other off sounds)? Not the S-SMP core per se, but rather the tinny-sound effects?

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Sure, I'll retest it to make sure nothing was broken once it's released Keep up the good work! Do you know if that Konami sound bug was fixed (among other off sounds)? Not the S-SMP core per se, but rather the tinny-sound effects?

You mean the Konami startup sound?

If so, I'll try to test that again and see if I can find the cause.

 

[the_randomizer]

You mean the Konami startup sound?

If so, I'll try to test that again and see if I can find the cause.

Yeah, it sounds a little tinnier than usual.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Also added a new Unzip mode - 'Unzip, Load first file, and clean' - this is the same as 'Unzip and Load First File' except that it will immediately delete the temporary unzipped ROM from the SD card as soon as the ROM has been loaded into RetroArch's ROM buffer. Hopefully that should help silence the complaints of people who didn't like seeing their SD card cluttered up with unzipped ROMs. It should be pretty transparent to the user - as long as you have enough free space on your SD card as the ROM you're 'loading' this should basically be the same to you as how other emus do it.

 

[trev1976]

Glad you managed to run it, dude.

Btw, for anyone interested, here's a list/pic of ~400 (selected after tested by me) fba games that run from playable to perfect on retroarch wii so far, maybe it helps other people to know what games to look out for:

Hi Nakata6790

You dont happen to remember what games were the only ones that worked perfectly do you ? Im looking to create a folder of only 100% working games

Many Thanks

 

[Mart1jn]

Thanks for this great emulator

I noticed one bug on the controls for FBA.

For example: Dungeons & dragons: Shadow over Mystara. The wiki says: "There are four buttons: Attack, Jump, Select and Use. ".

I can use Attack, Jump and Select. I can't use the 'Use' button, so i can't use items/magic. I tried all the buttons, but it seems the use-button isn't binded by Retro Arch. Not sure if more games have this problem. On games like streetfighter i can use all buttons (A,B,X,Y,L,R) so this problem is only for games with 4 buttons i guess..

Looking forward to an answer

 

[nakata6790]

Hi Nakata6790

You dont happen to remember what games were the only ones that worked perfectly do you ? Im looking to create a folder of only 100% working games

Many Thanks

Well 90+% of those 500 games work perfectly, that's the beauty of FBA.
All neo geo games under 22MB work flawlessly as do almost all CPS1, CPS2 (under 22MB).

If you want absolutely 100% ONLY, you can exclude:
- Some Sega16 games like Shinobi, Toki, Altered Beast, Outrun have slowdown or glitches in places.
-lightgun games (operation wolf, operation thunder and zombieraid) run perfect but the IR cursor doesn't work for 0.97.
- Some games mess the screen orientation vertically or sideways for the menu too, but that is EASILY solved by tinkering with the settings or restarting the emu (or tilting your head to the side, that's what i do )
- Carrier Airwing has a bug with some enemy sprites but is skippable
- Wrestling war has slowdown
those are off the top of my head.

Given the chance, i would like to also give a list of games that do NOT work for 0.9.7. I have a special separate folder for them, ready to be tested thoroughly when 0.9.8. hits

(btw, ignore xsleena in there, that one is not for fba)


Those are big roms (>23MB), for if and whenever large rom support is added:

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Thanks for this great emulator

I noticed one bug on the controls for FBA.

For example: Dungeons & dragons: Shadow over Mystara. The wiki says: "There are four buttons: Attack, Jump, Select and Use. ".

I can use Attack, Jump and Select. I can't use the 'Use' button, so i can't use items/magic. I tried all the buttons, but it seems the use-button isn't binded by Retro Arch. Not sure if more games have this problem. On games like streetfighter i can use all buttons (A,B,X,Y,L,R) so this problem is only for games with 4 buttons i guess..

Looking forward to an answer

That has been fixed and will be in the new release.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

We ported Nestopia to libretro today too - runs fullspeed on Wii and doesn't have the 'audio desync / audio pop' issues that plagues other Nestopia ports/versions. Overall should be better for general usage than the current FCEUmm in RetroArch 0.9.7.

 

[the_randomizer]

We ported Nestopia to libretro today too - runs fullspeed on Wii and doesn't have the 'audio desync / audio pop' issues that plagues other Nestopia ports/versions. Overall should be better for general usage than the current FCEUmm in RetroArch 0.9.7.

That's awesome, seeing as Nestopia is my favorite NES emulator! Keep up the good work! Do you have any info about gPSP being ported over? I hear that runs better than VBA Next, I could be wrong though.

 

[tankberg]

LibretroRetroArc, how about support for Pier Solar rom?