Homebrew RetroArch Switch

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Flycast standalone is now a real thing
:grog:
and it performs quite well.
Interesting...

Is there a consensus of what standalone emulators people should get because either:

a) RetroArch doesn't have a core for the system
or
b) the standalone version just performs better


?
 
Flycast standalone is now a real thing
:grog:
and it performs quite well.
Its not much better than RA core tho, they are pretty much on par. But for ppsspp i'd too suggest using standalone !
It performs the same as RA core, so its not a necessity to transition to if you are fine with (and get used to) RA core. And anyway lakka's flycast is still the best way to play dc games.

PPSSPP and MelonDS tho are great standalones which are better than RA cores.
 
And anyway lakka's flycast is still the best way to play dc games.
Is it better on the switch version of lakka or you are referring to lakka being run on other systems?
I've heard that some emulators run better on the switch with android than lakka, not sure how both of these compare to Ubuntu L4T thou.
 
Is it better on the switch version of lakka or you are referring to lakka being run on other systems?
I've heard that some emulators run better on the switch with android than lakka, not sure how both of these compare to Ubuntu L4T thou.
Of course im referring to switch lakka. Overall android/lakka/linux is better when it comes to emulation (except maybe for mupen64, it has some switch specific patches and is supposed to run best on HOS). Which one to use is up to you, they are pretty much the same performance wise. Lakka is just a lot easier to install and use, it's literally just a standalone linux based RA that you can easily fastboot whenever you want using any payload launcher within HOS (or from hekate).
 
Last edited by bad361,
Of course im referring to switch lakka. Overall android/lakka/linux is better when it comes to emulation (except maybe for mupen64, it has some switch specific patches and is supposed to run best on HOS). Which one to use is up to you, they are pretty much the same performance wise. Lakka is just a lot easier to install and use, it's literally just a standalone linux based RA that you can easily fastboot whenever you want using any payload launcher within HOS (or from hekate).
I actually have a spare SDCard that I plan to use with my Switch solely to play emulated games.
I was already thinking of installing something like Android, Linux or Lakka in there instead of using HOS RetroArch.

I'm mostly inclining to use Lakka as it seems to have even more cores than current HOS RetroArch plus it supposedly runs games better. My question is if there is any downsides to it? I heard it is not fully compatible with docked mode, something about joycons not working properly...
 
I actually have a spare SDCard that I plan to use with my Switch solely to play emulated games.
I was already thinking of installing something like Android, Linux or Lakka in there instead of using HOS RetroArch.

I'm mostly inclining to use Lakka as it seems to have even more cores than current HOS RetroArch plus it supposedly runs games better. My question is if there is any downsides to it? I heard it is not fully compatible with docked mode, something about joycons not working properly...
I have a similar setup, one SD for HOS homebrew + switch games and another one with Lakka. In my experience Lakka runs fine with docked mode and at least with the latest version you can play with your joycons detached without problems. My main issues with Lakka come from certain cores, for example melonds works nearly perfect on HOS standalone but has stuttering on Retroarch (I haven't tried retroarch on HOS but I assume it will be worse than Lakka...). Retroarch's performance depends a lot on the game you are trying to run and the core you are using.
I would avoid using retroarch for any emulator that can run on a standalone version. For NES, SNES, GameBoy and other 16-bit consoles there should be no difference but you will definetly find differences in performance with DS, PSP and N64 emulation (for the latter I'm hoping to see more advances on standalone emulation after the n64 online release).
At this moment I'm only using Lakka for Gamecube & PSX tests. Some games won't even load but other are somehow playable so let's hope we can see advances in the near future. Maybe a somewhat functional 3DS core and, who knows, PS2? We can only dream... that or buy a steam deck when available, which seems more realistic
 
I actually have a spare SDCard that I plan to use with my Switch solely to play emulated games.
I was already thinking of installing something like Android, Linux or Lakka in there instead of using HOS RetroArch.

I'm mostly inclining to use Lakka as it seems to have even more cores than current HOS RetroArch plus it supposedly runs games better. My question is if there is any downsides to it? I heard it is not fully compatible with docked mode, something about joycons not working properly...
1. there is no reason to use a separate SD for lakka
2.; Lakka does indeed work better especially because of Vulkan support and has better cores such as Duckstation for PS1 games which also includes settings such as increased resolution and an in core overclock which allows you to run games like Chrono Cross at 60FPS which normally ran at about 15FPS or so. you won't find any of those things on HOS retroarch.
3. I find the actual (known) issue to be Lakka has issues with vsync in Handheld mode but works fine in docked.

I personally only use it for PSX and Dreamcast (which both work perfectly outside of WinCE) and use HOS for everything else. Gamecube isn't even worth bothering with its too slow, PSP works better in standalone HOS, and the only N64 game faster in Lakka is Goldeneye but barely. for DS i just use my 3DS
 
Last edited by deathblade200,
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1. there is no reason to use a separate SD for lakka
2.; Lakka does indeed work better especially because of Vulkan support and has better cores such as Duckstation for PS1 games which also includes settings such as increased resolution and an in core overclock which allows you to run games like Chrono Cross at 60FPS which normally ran at about 15FPS or so. you won't find any of those things on HOS retroarch.
3. I find the actual (known) issue to be Lakka has issues with vsync in Handheld mode but works fine in docked.

I personally only use it for PSX and Dreamcast (which both work perfectly) and use HOS for everything else. Gamecube isn't even worth bothering with its too slow, PSP works better in standalone HOS, and the only N64 game faster in Lakka is Goldeneye but barely. for DS i just use my 3DS
regarding psx emulation I've been using pcsx rearmed but since you mention duckstation I'm wondering if there is much difference in performance between the two? since my experience with rearmed is poor for most of the games I've tried. also, will bios setup affect the performance? don't have it set up at the moment
 
regarding psx emulation I've been using pcsx rearmed but since you mention duckstation I'm wondering if there is much difference in performance between the two? since my experience with rearmed is poor for most of the games I've tried. also, will bios setup affect the performance? don't have it set up at the moment
to put it simply pcsx is shit and idk how people can stand using it lol and you should always supply the psx bios
 
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What exactly are the vsync issues with Lakka?
Does it impact all cores/games and can it be fixed somehow?
you would have to see for yourself to know exactly what im talking about but load the same game on the same core in HOS retroarch and Lakka and you will notice the games in Lakka have more of a stuttering look to them is the best way I can describe it. its a known issue that has to do with Tegra itself and can't be fixed currently. its much less noticeable in 3d games though but you will still notice it here and there. in Docked mode it isn't an issue
 
you would have to see for yourself to know exactly what im talking about but load the same game on the same core in HOS retroarch and Lakka and you will notice the games in Lakka have more of a stuttering look to them is the best way I can describe it. its a known issue that has to do with Tegra itself and can't be fixed currently. its much less noticeable in 3d games though but you will still notice it here and there. in Docked mode it isn't an issue
Interesting. If it only happens on handheld I wonder what makes it all of the suddenly a non-issue when you play docked.
 
1. there is no reason to use a separate SD for lakka
2.; Lakka does indeed work better especially because of Vulkan support and has better cores such as Duckstation for PS1 games which also includes settings such as increased resolution and an in core overclock which allows you to run games like Chrono Cross at 60FPS which normally ran at about 15FPS or so. you won't find any of those things on HOS retroarch.
3. I find the actual (known) issue to be Lakka has issues with vsync in Handheld mode but works fine in docked.

I personally only use it for PSX and Dreamcast (which both work perfectly outside of WinCE) and use HOS for everything else. Gamecube isn't even worth bothering with its too slow, PSP works better in standalone HOS, and the only N64 game faster in Lakka is Goldeneye but barely. for DS i just use my 3DS
I would argue about gc and psp, but that's subjective. I've completed a bunch of games using dolphin, like Crash Tag Team Racing, Simpsons Hit n Run, Prince of Persia 1 and Warrior within, Mario Strikers...and i have a bunch of great playable stuff to complete as well. It all comes down to decreasing emulated CPU speed and playing at full speed 30fps instead of native 60 (doesn't work the same for all games tho). For me its more than enough to play gc on switch. But other than that, yeah, you said it all. I mostly play psx and dc in lakka too and the experience is great, except for that psx pulse audio problems with certain games.
 
I would argue about gc and psp, but that's subjective. I've completed a bunch of games using dolphin, like Crash Tag Team Racing, Simpsons Hit n Run, Prince of Persia 1 and Warrior within, Mario Strikers...and i have a bunch of great playable stuff to complete as well. It all comes down to decreasing emulated CPU speed and playing at full speed 30fps instead of native 60 (doesn't work the same for all games tho). For me its more than enough to play gc on switch. But other than that, yeah, you said it all. I mostly play psx and dc in lakka too and the experience is great, except for that psx pulse audio problems with certain games.
changing to Alsathread fixes the pulse issue. as for gamecube when even a simple 2d game like Four Swords Adventures can not run without slowdown and audio issues I'd definitely call it unplayable. the same remains true for all games unless you are fine with audio bugs and slowdown.
 
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