Homebrew RetroArch Switch

[Silent_Gunner]

So, I have a question which is probably going to be a controversial question... Would it be possible to use SX OS's USB drivers to have retroarch access external HDDs? Ofcourse, that would only be compatible right now with SX OS but... For now it would be awesome to have it be able to connect to a huge hdd of games!

Another question would be, is there currently a conventional way to use external hdds with retroarch and im just out of the loop?

Well...this would be awkward to carry around with you if you're on the go a lot like me, but if you don't care, here's what you could do:

*Get a USB-to-USB-C converter cable and have the HDD connected to the USB-C port. Preferably have a WD HDD or a small enough portable SSD that can fit in your pocket and won't be too suspicious looking these days. Bridges also work.
*Use the external HDD on the dock in TV mode.

Alternatively, you could go for a 256GB SD card, convert all of the PS1 games to .pbp, and reduce storage size, while putting the games that won't fit into the limits of a .pbp file in their own respective folders. Hell, even the SanDisk 400GB SD card was on sale for what the 256GB SD card was. Doubt it still is on sale, but look for stuff like this as it can really make your life much easier!

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Hi just want to ask because specific latest switch related news is hard to find. Is 1.7.5 the latest version still? No fix for PSX yet? N64 still a WIP?

Yes, I believe 1.7.5/1.7.6 is the current version. PS1 still needs Threaded Video to run at anything resembling full speed, and I still haven't tried the N64 emulator out yet. I'm more of a Playstation guy generally until what happened lately with Chicago...

 

[coppertj]

Well...this would be awkward to carry around with you if you're on the go a lot like me, but if you don't care, here's what you could do:

*Get a USB-to-USB-C converter cable and have the HDD connected to the USB-C port. Preferably have a WD HDD or a small enough portable SSD that can fit in your pocket and won't be too suspicious looking these days. Bridges also work.
*Use the external HDD on the dock in TV mode.

Alternatively, you could go for a 256GB SD card, convert all of the PS1 games to .pbp, and reduce storage size, while putting the games that won't fit into the limits of a .pbp file in their own respective folders. Hell, even the SanDisk 400GB SD card was on sale for what the 256GB SD card was. Doubt it still is on sale, but look for stuff like this as it can really make your life much easier!

I do that already i have my games stored on there now, I picked one up from my campus bookstore for like 30 dollars on sale it's 1tb and in a protective rubber casing plugging into a apple usb A to C (got that on sale too in bookstore).

But does retroarch currently support that storage option, I haven't seen any documentation about it?

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Best to ask m4xw or for someone to respond on that one. Even if you might need to send someone a PM to get them to notice you.

 

[Deleted-351540]

Best to ask m4xw or for someone to respond on that one. Even if you might need to send someone a PM to get them to notice you.

He will say no, mainly because he doesn't support or recommend using SX OS. I've seen him say it many times to others.

 

[coppertj]

He will say no, mainly because he doesn't support or recommend using SX OS. I've seen him say it many times to others.

fair enough, they steal work of other people yet release their usb support not open source but have libraries for devs. hypocritical of xecuter.

 

[Clydefrosch]

gotta ask just to be sure, I tried running final fantasy 8 and 9 in .pbp format (all disks in one file), but the switch crashes when doing that.
is that a file size issue or are my pbp files just broken (I've had them for quite a while and transfered them between a few disks, so they might've corrupted)

or are those games not compatible in other formats in general?

 

[Beaps]

Anyone looked at C64 in retroarch, I find it unplayable. It seems you have to keep going into the menu and swapping ports, swapping keyboard/joystick.

Is it an early release that's gonna be ironed out as it seems to run games great, but getting past the crack screens is very difficult.

 

[hippy dave]

gotta ask just to be sure, I tried running final fantasy 8 and 9 in .pbp format (all disks in one file), but the switch crashes when doing that.
is that a file size issue or are my pbp files just broken (I've had them for quite a while and transfered them between a few disks, so they might've corrupted)

or are those games not compatible in other formats in general?

Supposedly it only works with pbp files you've converted yourself, not official ones.

 

[lordelan]

Having trouble getting tinfoil to install the retroarch.nsp, it keeps erroring out when I try to install

Is there a verstion of tinfoil that plays nicely with retroarch?

n1dus

 

[notimp]

Supposedly it only works with pbp files you've converted yourself, not official ones.

Depends, but in general yes. The normal user method of googling game with pbp and getting whatever shows up, has a very high failure rate, compared to psx isos/bins you've converted to pbp yourself.

Might be because people distributing psone pbps where ripping stuff left and right to save bandwith, might be specifics of the psp psone emulator. long story short - pbp is great as a container (compressed, removes fillerbytes), but start with original PSX isos/bins and go from there. (psx2pbp is the Win tool that does the conversion).

 

[grabman]

gotta ask just to be sure, I tried running final fantasy 8 and 9 in .pbp format (all disks in one file), but the switch crashes when doing that.
is that a file size issue or are my pbp files just broken (I've had them for quite a while and transfered them between a few disks, so they might've corrupted)

or are those games not compatible in other formats in general?

Both games work fine for me

 

[Clydefrosch]

Depends, but in general yes. The normal user method of googling game with pbp and getting whatever shows up, has a very high failure rate, compared to psx isos/bins you've converted to pbp yourself.

Might be because people distributing psone pbps where ripping stuff left and right to save bandwith, might be specifics of the psp psone emulator. long story short - pbp is great as a container (compressed, removes fillerbytes), but start with original PSX isos/bins and go from there. (psx2pbp is the Win tool that does the conversion).

alright, thanks, will give it a try.

any options in psx2pbp i should use? and does it support converting several files into one or do they have to be fused before in some way?`

 

[TheGreaKhali]

What's the best core to use for Genesis games.

Genesis Plus GX or Picodrive?

 

[notimp]

I was scolded for using picodrive. So Genesis Plus GX.

You use picodrive for x32 games only, I was told.

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alright, thanks, will give it a try.

any options in psx2pbp i should use? and does it support converting several files into one or do they have to be fused before in some way?`

Its not like Ive posted this in this topic twice before... Max compression, the rest you can leave on default. (Max compression doesnt take much longer than non max, and doesnt take away from compatibility) Also use classic mode (at least I do), shouldnt matter though.

 

[Clydefrosch]

I was scolded for using picodrive. So Genesis Plus GX.

You use picodrive for x32 games only, I was told.

i guess it's more like if it runs gx, use gx. on a weaker system like 3ds or psp, I'd always go for pico

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I was scolded for using picodrive. So Genesis Plus GX.

You use picodrive for x32 games only, I was told.

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Its not like Ive posted this in this topic twice before... Max compression, the rest you can leave on default. (Max compression doesnt take much longer than non max, and doesnt take away from compatibility) Also use classic mode (at least I do), shouldnt matter though.

sorry, but the search function really doesn't work that well to find very specific info if you don't know exactly how to look for it.
will compression increase load times like it does for psp games?

 

[notimp]

Not notably - no. Did no A-B testing. Maybe. Perhaps. Ok, I'll go with no.

(In the about 300 arcade mode completions in Tekken 3 it didnt make me change compression level of file format.. Load times are fine. )

edit: Here is a better approach: PSX had a "double speed" disc drive. That was 300 KB/s max throughput. Emulators usually stick to original disc speed, because of compatibility. The compression/decompression algo that doesnt give you 300 KB/s throughput even on a rooted coffe machine today doesnt exist in the consumer space..

 

[Clydefrosch]

i'll compare conversion, I know on the psp i eventually went with the 'worst' compression and the difference between best and worst was like~50mb or less, but load times were notably better.

ok, yeah, compression 1 and 9 are like 35mb difference on FF9. so I'll probably go with 1 just on the off chance it makes a speed difference.

thanks for the assistance.

 

[notimp]

Thanks for the insight. (Quantify better, please. If you can. )

 

[Hodorian]

Having trouble getting tinfoil to install the retroarch.nsp, it keeps erroring out when I try to install

Is there a verstion of tinfoil that plays nicely with retroarch?

Try to download the nsp again and use the newest tinfoil. Which os version are you using? using

 

[Eskorbuto]

Is N64 and ps1 100% full speed playable? I'm using switch 5.1 software version, fat32 200 GB sdcard, and I get 85% fine speed in N64, with bad sound (slow) and can't load ps1 games., Is there a tutorial or configuration /settings guide to improve this?