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RetroArch just got a facelift, in a brand new 1.8.5 update. The latest version of the emulator frontend offers a new menu option, stylized after the Nintendo Switch's "ozone" menu. For those of you used to the looks of the XMB (PS3) style, fear not, as you can revert back to that in the options, under settings>drivers. A major bug has also been fixed in this update--users who were previously unable to boot RetroArch on certain Chromebooks should now be able to without issue. In addition, many smaller bugfixes were made, along with better performance on Linux via OpenGL. Feel free to check out the official changelog below, or grab the new version from the source below.

1.8.5

• 3DS: Keep the bottom screen hidden on sleep/wakeup. When the 3DS wakes back up after being closed, the bottom screen needs to be reinitialized. Adding the condition here will cause the screen to be turned on or off based on the state of ctr_bottom_screen_enabled, as you’d expect
• ANDROID/CHROMEBOOK/CRASH: Fix Chromebook crashes (on x86 x64) when touching the screen
• BUGFIX: Prevent double input when using ‘return’ key (hardware) to close on-screen keyboard
• BUGFIX: Fix mouse capture hotkey not working
• BUGFIX: Avoid overflow when calculating multiplying performance counter
• BUGFIX: Retroarch overlay displaying “Game remap file loaded.” on the overlay instead of “Core remap file loaded.” when only a core remap file is present
• CHEEVOS/BUGFIX: Achievement triggers could cause Retroarch to Crash
• CHEEVOS: Don’t block Sameboy core because it only exposes some memory
• CHEEVOS: Support for extended Sega CD memory
• CHEEVOS: Show RetroAchievements Hash in content information list
• CHEEVOS: If the core says it’s exposing SYSTEM_RAM, give it the benefit of the doubt
• CHEEVOS: RetroAchievements rich presence for RA.org website/Discord
• CHEEVOS: Reset token when username or password changes
• CHEEVOS: Display measured progress on locked achievements
• CHEEVOS: Queue multiple popups
• CHEEVOS: Add delay retries to leaderboard submits
• CHEEVOS: Prevent buffer overflow when encountering an unknown macro
• CORE UPDATER: Prevent hang when fetching core list if HTTP transfer fails
• DISK CONTROL: Add disk labels to ‘disk inserted’ notifications
• EMSCRIPTEN: Recreate input event listeners properly
• FFMPEG CORE: Fix crash on seeking when using HW decoding in some cases
• LIBRETRO: Add disk control interface API extension
• LINUX: Avoid possible crash when running retroarch at startup
• LINUX/GLX: Fix threaded video crashes/instability because of GLX OML sync callbacks
• LOCALIZATION: Update French translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Korean translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Polish translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Spanish translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Portuguese Brazilian translation
• MENU: Add Menu Scroll Acceleration option
• MENU: Automatically select currently checked item when opening drop-down lists
• MENU: Fix smooth (vertical) line ticker scroll speed
• MENU: Don’t flush on override/remap messages
• MENU/DATETIME: Adds some new timedate styles that follow the DD/MM/YYYY format, found in several European countries
• MENU/DATETIME: Modifies the existing translation files in order to accommodate the new options that are now available
• MENU/DATETIME: Reorders the timedate view options based on a decreasing order of the quantity of information displayed, so that they are more convenient to switch around and easily categorized
• MENU/BUGFIX: Fix bug – if you were in XMB and you would set menu driver to RGUI, you could no longer go to the left or right tab
• MENU/MATERIALUI: Add option to remove navigation bar
• MENU/OZONE: Add DPI-based scaling
• MENU/OZONE: Add rudimentary pointer support
• MENU/OZONE: Add ‘Nord’ and ‘Gruvbox Dark’ themes
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: Pointer can be used to switch between sidebar and entries list
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: Pointer can be used to select sidebar and entries list items
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: Both sidebar and entries list can be scrolled by dragging
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: Clicking/pressing the header or footer produces a ‘cancel’ action
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: Cursor focus follows mouse pointer from sidebar to entries list (and vice versa)
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: In entries list, item under cursor is automatically selected (with some fudging to ensure this doesn’t break mouse wheel scrolling)
• MENU/OZONE/POINTER: In sidebar, item under cursor is not automatically selected (this is too jarring)
• MENU/RGUI: Add ‘Flux’ theme
• MENU/XMB: New color themes ‘Cube Purple’, ‘Family Red’, etc
• NETPLAY/MENU/BUGFIX: Fix Netplay Stateless Mode doesn’t save. Affects other netplay settings which can be overridden by commandline option
• ODROID GO ADVANCE: Rotation support
• NETPLAY/ROOMS/BUGFIX: Prevent out-of-bounds array indexing when displaying/selecting netplay rooms in menus
• SCANNER: Add ‘Arcade DAT Filter’ Option
• SCANNER: Add scanning Korea and Asia PS1 discs
• SCANNER: Add support for scanning PSP Korean
• VIDEO: Set hardware ‘Bilinear filtering’ off by default
• VIDEO/WIDGETS: Widgets are now menu-independent
• VIDEO/WIDGETS: Allow notifications to use full screen width when not displaying menu
• VIDEO/WIDGETS: DPI-based scaling
• VIDEO/WIDGETS: Fix volume widget scaling
• VIDEO/WIDGETS: Add independent widget scale override settings for fullscreen/windowed modes
• VIDEO/WIDGETS/BUGFIX: Prevent improper display of (old style) OSD text when widgets are enabled
• VIDEO/WIDGETS/THREADED/BUGFIX: Fix issue – corruption of menu widgets when running some cores (e.g. VICE) with threaded video enabled
• WIFI/CONNMANCTL: Display more characters from SSID

Source

 

[Plasmaster09]

I think I'm going to just show myself out. Ciao.

I mean you were still right- the approximately zero people working on 3DS cores moved to Switch.
Well, aside from Bubble2k and the others, but they've vanished off the face of the earth, or at least from GBATemp.

 

[the_randomizer]

I mean you were still right- the approximately zero people working on 3DS cores moved to Switch.
Well, aside from Bubble2k and the others, but they've vanished off the face of the earth, or at least from GBATemp.

And it's that reason why I remain cynical, I'll be sticking to the Android and/or PC version of RetroArch; the 3DS and Wii U versions are never going to get full speed N64 or PSX emulation anyway

 

[Plasmaster09]

And it's that reason why I remain cynical, I'll be sticking to the Android and/or PC version of RetroArch; the 3DS and Wii U versions are never going to get full speed N64 or PSX emulation anyway

eh I'll do both
besides, if I can turn my hacked 3ds into a portable emulator for decent PSX games, great 16 bit and basic arcade games and near perfect 8 bit games, I'm totally going to do it.

 

[Reynardine]

eh I'll do both
besides, if I can turn my hacked 3ds into a portable emulator for decent PSX games, great 16 bit and basic arcade games and near perfect 8 bit games, I'm totally going to do it.

Speaking of arcade games. I'm a bit out of the loop, but are vertical arcade games like Donkey Kong now playable in retroarch on 3DS?

Last time I tried the screen was rotated sideways with no way of changing this.

Also the Virtual Boy core doesn't work at all for me. Virtual boy emulation on 3DS with 3D support, I can only dream...

Other than that I'm perfectly happy with the performance on 3DS. NES and SNES and GB/GBC/GBA run well for me. Sega's Master System/Game Gear and the Genesis too. Also PC Engine. That's the essentials covered.

For PSX, N64 and DOSBox I stick with my PC or Switch for now.

Retroarch's PCSXReArmed is currently surpisingly slow on Switch. It runs with overclocking, but that shouldn't be necessary. I previously used that emulator as a standalone on the openpandora handheld and it was much much faster, at a clockspeed of about 1 GHz.

 

[Plasmaster09]

Speaking of arcade games. I'm a bit out of the loop, but are vertical arcade games like Donkey Kong now playable in retroarch on 3DS?

Last time I tried the screen was rotated sideways with no way of changing this.

Also the Virtual Boy core doesn't work at all for me. Virtual boy emulation on 3DS with 3D support, I can only dream...

Other than that I'm perfectly happy with the performance on 3DS. NES and SNES and GB/GBC/GBA run well for me. Sega's Master System/Game Gear and the Genesis too. That's the essentials covered.

For PSX, N64 and DOSBox I stick with my PC or Switch for now.

Retroarch's PCSXReArmed is currently surpisingly slow on Switch. It runs with overclocking, but that shouldn't be necessary. I previously used that emulator as a standalone on the openpandora handheld and it was much much faster, at a clockspeed of about 1 GHz.

Wait, GBA runs well on N3DS? Through which core? My n3ds xl comes tomorrow, and if RetroArch is up to the task of making GBA games run well, I'd be glad to know. Also, I know o3ds can't run it well anyway but every time I launch gpSP or its standalone clone citrAGB, I get an arm11 exception crash once I try to start a game. I put the BIOS in the right spot! Any ideas?
Edit: As for vertical arcade games, I don't know. All I know is that there are a surprising amount of arcade cores and from what I've heard, the CPS cores run well, including CPS3 on n3ds. Arcade fighter time!

 

[Reynardine]

Wait, GBA runs well on N3DS? Through which core? My n3ds xl comes tomorrow, and if RetroArch is up to the task of making GBA games run well, I'd be glad to know. Also, I know o3ds can't run it well anyway but every time I launch gpSP or its standalone clone citrAGB, I get an arm11 exception crash once I try to start a game. I put the BIOS in the right spot! Any ideas?
Edit: As for vertical arcade games, I don't know. All I know is that there are a surprising amount of arcade cores and from what I've heard, the CPS cores run well, including CPS3 on n3ds. Arcade fighter time!

Well, recently I played a bit of Mother 3 on my New 3DS via retroarch. The core I'm using is gpSP.

I haven't updated retroarch in a while. Unscrewing the lid to get to the SD cart is super annoying...
Maybe I'll take the time to do it now. But gpSP was running well with a nightly build from around September last year.

I only tested retroarch on those New 3DS models. I didn't bother running it on my original 3DS, it's probably too slow to be playable for most cores beyond NES.

I wish I had a way to quickly synchronize my savegames from 3DS, Switch and PC. Now that would be handy.
Switch is way too bulky, so when going out I actually prefer playing on the trusty old 3DS.

 

[m4xw]

Retroarch's PCSXReArmed is currently surpisingly slow on Switch. It runs with overclocking, but that shouldn't be necessary. I previously used that emulator as a standalone on the openpandora handheld and it was much much faster, at a clockspeed of about 1 GHz.

Because everything is software rendered + interpreter.
Suddenly it doesnt sound too slow anymore for what it actually does

 

[BORTZ]

If the stuff about fixing the GBA core is correct and people are experiencing much fewer crashes, then color me excited. I would rather have a folder of ROMs rather than needing to install titles to my home screen.

Also just because of how dumb it is, I would love to see FFVII running on my 3DS haha

 

[Deleted member 514389]

-snip-

 

[Silent_Gunner]

I know Covid 19 has the world all crazy and stuff but using 3DS as your emulation device in 2020? That is scraping the barrel.

Maybe that's all that they can afford? Not everyone has the luxury of living in the United States.

It's certainly more portable than the Switch, soyboy!

 

[Plasmaster09]

Maybe that's all that they can afford? Not everyone has the luxury of living in the United States.

It's certainly more portable than the Switch, soyboy!

I have a Switch but I sure as hell ain't hacking it yet. It's definitely not safe to hack and I'm not blowing money on a jig.
Plus my PC is medium quality- in order, quality goes toaster -> outdated school computer -> mine (decent, good enough to run Binding of Isaac but not to run Wii games on Dolphin) -> high-end -> $2000 or whatever gaming pc.
Plus I can have freaking full speed PSX and SNES on a n3ds now, so why the hell not?

 

[Silent_Gunner]

I have a Switch but I sure as hell ain't hacking it yet. It's definitely not safe to hack and I'm not blowing money on a jig.
Plus my PC is medium quality- in order, quality goes toaster -> outdated school computer -> mine (decent, good enough to run Binding of Isaac but not to run Wii games on Dolphin) -> high-end -> $2000 or whatever gaming pc.
Plus I can have freaking full speed PSX and SNES on a n3ds now, so why the hell not?

PSX is full speed now? Or does it still have problems?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

 

[Plasmaster09]

PSX is full speed now? Or does it still have problems?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Full speed with Unai and all that. There's bound to be some problems but if I remember correctly, for the games it works with (which is pretty many now) it works great.

 

[HulkWogan]

Maybe that's all that they can afford? Not everyone has the luxury of living in the United States.

It's certainly more portable than the Switch, soyboy!

Portability isn't a factor, I wouldn't dream of playing outside of my home, I have other commitments.

Switch is plenty portable for me guy.

 

[Plasmaster09]

Portability isn't a factor, I wouldn't dream of playing outside of my home, I have other commitments.

Switch is plenty portable for me guy.

yeah but switch hacking is relatively... unreliable compared to 3ds
3ds has easy softmod methods for the latest (and LAST) firmware
switch has no softmod methods and the simplest method (which requires specifically owning an unpatched Switch and there's no way of knowing if it's got a "maybe patched" serial number) requires basically shorting it out and has a much higher risk of bricking.

 

[HulkWogan]

@Plasmaster09 3DS was a great handheld, no question. The issue was user/users expecting new builds of homebrew for a handheld that is so old, nothing to do with quality or anybodies finances as the other member mentions.

 

[Plasmaster09]

@Plasmaster09 3DS was a great handheld, no question. The issue was user/users expecting new builds of homebrew for a handheld that is so old, nothing to do with quality or anybodies finances as the other member mentions.

it's not that I'm expecting anything new
I'm just mildly annoyed that the cores optimized are so old- some of them are older than the 3DS itself!

 

[Ev1l0rd]

it's not that I'm expecting anything new
I'm just mildly annoyed that the cores optimized are so old- some of them are older than the 3DS itself!

The 3DS is a very weak system in terms of what it can run to begin with. There was a comparison with the Vita back when it came out, and the tech in the 3DS compared to the Vita was reaching the "ancient" date even back then.

Emulation has made great strides, but a large part of that probably had to do with the increased amount of computing power available as well. The Switch on the other hand has around the processing power of an Nvidia Shield (a little bit less iirc), which also allows for a lot more stuff to run on it.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Portability isn't a factor, I wouldn't dream of playing outside of my home, I have other commitments.

Switch is plenty portable for me guy.

You have other commitments, yet you wouldn't play the game system outside of your house?

Thy logic is of no sense!

 

[HulkWogan]

You have other commitments, yet you wouldn't play the game system outside of your house?

Thy logic is of no sense!

Is this reverse logic? when I am out I am doing adult things, working and the like. No time for gaming then young man, please refrain from diverting the thread any further from it purpose.