We’ve been away for half a year so there is a lot to talk about in this new upcoming release. Rest assured I’m working hard as hell to meet the Christmas sweet spot. It will take a couple of blog posts to go through it all. So let’s start with the first one. I’m putting these articles out now because I really don’t fancy having to write all this stuff later on in the holidays when I drop this stuff.
In this blog post, let’s talk some more about new cores
Dungeon Crawler Stone Soup
Meancoot made this libretro port a year ago or so but it was never really in a shippable state until now. I’ve rebased the port and I’ve made sure changes from upstream can be easily pulled in.
So what is it? It’s an old-school dungeon crawler in the vein of Rogue and Nethack. The game is meant to be played in single-player mode and is originally played with the keyboard (you can even use vim bindings). Quite popular, and the libretro port supports the tile-based graphics that make the game somewhat more graphically appealing.
What’s been done right now?
– Should work on iOS, Android (not tested yet) and PC.
– Has rudimentary RetroPad joypad controls (not recommended though), and working touch controls. Also has RetroKeyboard and RetroMouse support.
– Save states in the libretro sense are not ‘implemented’ but it supports the game’s basic ‘saving’ routines so it should work the same as the standalone version in that respect.
What’s to be done in the future?
– Meancoot originally added a Libretro GL-based render path which could result in some even better performance on platforms where GL is supported. Right now the current version is using software rendering which is still fast enough for our needs.
– Problem with the upstream Dungeon Crawler codebase is that they have been ‘upgrading’ to C++11 and as a result it will no longer compile on older compilers/systems where C++11 support can not be taken for granted. I’m undecided as to whether I should add hacks to the current shallow fork so that it can also compile as C++98 or whether I should just keep maintaining the year-old previous port by meancoot which should still be C++98-compliant. We will see. I’d definitely like to see this core running on older systems since it’s such a graphically low-key game anyway.
TGB Dual
This is a Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulator made by a Japanese developer. It dates back to 2001. It has been around as a libretro core for some time but only recently have some very important things been added to it.
For instance, it now has split-screen multiplayer support. This means that you can play GB Link games on the same screen with Player 1 and Player 2 controlling either of the two virtual Game Boys.
Some games that used GB Link support to good effect include but are not limited to : Tetris, Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe and (of course) the Pokemon games. So for people that’d like to play two-player Game Boy games on the same device, this will be quite a nice addition.
What’s to be done in the future?
– Make it endian-safe so it can run on big-endian targets like game consoles (PlayStation3/Wii/etc) and PowerPC Macs.
Rowan
December 12, 2014 — 9:50 pm
The iOS version of RetroArch needs iPhone 6 Plus support, as it doesn’t run full screen in-game and the controls are messed up (touch zones are out of place in relation to the overlaid buttons).
CODhaloVET
December 12, 2014 — 10:00 pm
Agreed a quick comment to this issue would be nice
Rowan
December 12, 2014 — 10:29 pm
Doesn’t even fill the screen for me.
CODhaloVET
December 12, 2014 — 11:12 pm
This should fix your problem (and how I fixed it on mine), choose a core then go to “core options” and select the screen resolution to the one I have (shown on the screenshot below). It will fix the screen size but not the overlay issue. The game may be playable if you are willing to do some guess work on the button touch zones.
Rowan
December 13, 2014 — 5:33 pm
Thanks 🙂 We just need a fix for the overlay issue now…
Rowan
December 13, 2014 — 8:52 pm
I can’t find “core options”?
CODhaloVET
December 13, 2014 — 11:19 pm
It should appear here (first page of retroarch options) after you load a game
Rowan
December 14, 2014 — 11:54 am
I think the different cores have their own settings. PCSX ReARMed doesn’t have that resolution option.
CODhaloVET
December 14, 2014 — 4:45 pm
Yea I guess that’s the problem…Snes9x and the core for 64 has those settings havent tried those other two try to find something similar in RGUI
Radius4
December 14, 2014 — 4:52 pm
Core options only appear when a game has loaded.
PCSX-ReARMed does have some core options, not sure if it had them in 1.0.0.2 though
CODhaloVET
December 15, 2014 — 12:15 am
Godo to know…thanks for the info
Rowan
January 6, 2015 — 10:59 am
It doesn’t have the screen size settings though, and even then the controls wouldn’t fill the screen. I hope this whole thing has been or is being fixed, because squarepusher is being very quiet about it.
DieJoeBu
December 12, 2014 — 11:05 pm
Will there be a device limit to who can emulate the split screen Game Boys? That is to say, will I be able to force two tiny screen to appear on my iPhone 5, or do I need at least a tablet in order to experience the joy?
Squarepusher
December 12, 2014 — 11:27 pm
It isn’t device-specific, should be possible on any device.
Rowan
December 13, 2014 — 5:33 pm
What about the issue that’s being talked about above regarding iPhone 6 Plus on-screen controls?
marko
December 15, 2014 — 7:23 pm
Please will you support naomi for retroarch in future please responde
jvolgarr
December 22, 2014 — 9:01 am
Could we have PS3 controller support for Retroarch Wii? There are some homebrews using the dualshock 3 already. I would be so awesome as Wii peripherals are so hard to find and/or expensive. My dream is to use a PS3 NeoGeo stick 2 on Retroarch Wii 🙂
FaulPern
March 2, 2015 — 10:12 am
Why not just connect it to your PC?
Charco
December 22, 2014 — 1:12 pm
I see no mention of the PPSSPP core. Has this been dropped?
Radius4
December 22, 2014 — 5:31 pm
No, it’s already there on supported platforms and has been for a while now
Charco
December 22, 2014 — 8:10 pm
Excellent, thanks for clarifying Radius4 🙂
fadestyle
December 28, 2014 — 3:31 am
how solid is n64 play? is there or will there be a wii support
commodoreSF
December 29, 2014 — 10:07 am
Config options seem to be crippled on non-rooted Android. Per-core settings doesn’t work at all, configurations made while the core is running via RGUI aren’t saved, and analog D-pad mode (which can only be enabled via RGUI, which setting doesn’t save between sessions) doesn’t work either. For compatibility with non-rooted devices, I’d recommend changing the app to keep all config files in non-root permission folders, i.e. /sdcard or similar. At least add an option for setting a custom config file path.
Otherwise, I’m impressed by the improving compatibility and speed. I’d love to have functional per-core (maybe even per-game?) settings. Keep up the good work!
Playing on a non-rooted Nexus 7 with Nexus Gamepad.
Radius4
January 1, 2015 — 7:46 am
analog d-pad mode works for me, RGUI settings do save too. And we do have a config path in RGUI.
What version are you using?
commodoreSF
January 2, 2015 — 10:09 pm
I’m using the latest Google Play Store release, 1.0.0.2, on a Nexus 7 running Android 5.0.1. I use Nexus Gamepad and Gamestop Red Samurai controllers, and the issues are consistent across input devices.
I would try the nightly builds, except that I can’t figure out how to package the cores within the apk before installation and I can’t edit the files after installation without root (unless… is there a way to sideload cores onto the media storage volume?). My problems may have already been fixed in the nightlies, but I have no way to load an apk with packaged cores.
When using RGUI, changes to the “Core Options” stick, but changes to “Settings” (General, Video, Shader, Audio, etc…) don’t save after the session is closed. Changes to those settings only stick if they are changed via the Android app UI, but not every option is available in the Android UI, nor is there any way to save per-core configurations for these general settings (There’s a checkbox to disable Global Configuration, but I have tried loading different cores while changing settings, and the settings are still persistent across cores.)
Because the general settings via RGUI don’t save after the content is closed, changes to the config file custom path are not saved across sessions. It always reverts to . Where is that? When I select that option, the RGUI shows me the root directory. I’ve checked that location with a file manager, and there’s no .cfg files there unless they’re hidden.
Also, attempts to change certain settings that require a string input (i.e. netplay IP address) cause the app to freeze altogether, and no controller inputs respond including the Android back button. I have to press Home and force stop the app.
I have an idea for easier key mapping. It’d be much easier if the device cycled through requests for each control on each button press, rather than fiddling with menus and dialogues and text boxes.
Some, if not all, of these issues may already be fixed in the nightlies, so if there’s a way I can load the RetroArch apk WITH the associated cores, or have an option for a custom path for cores, that’d be much appreciated.
Radius4
January 3, 2015 — 12:38 am
Well 1.0.0.2 is what? 7 months old now?
Most of these kinks have been fixed (and of course we may have new ones)
The whole android input system has been redone, on screen controls should work well but gamepads now need autoconfig profiles that you can submit in the forum (or on github)
About the cores, you don’t need to repackage anything, there is a new core manager option in the nightlies, open it and it will allow you to download the cores you want.
So check the latest and feel free to post any new issues you might find
commodoreSF
January 3, 2015 — 7:53 am
Ok, got the nightly up and running with the cores downloaded. Thanks for explaining that. The nightly does fix a lot of the issues.
Now RetroArch isn’t accepting my gamepad input at all, even if I use custom bindings. I looked at the autoconfig thread in the forums, but the Nexus Gamepad hasn’t been configured yet, and I can’t find the option for input debugging to configure it myself.
I also liked the Android Back button to toggle the RGUI menu. Has that functionality been removed altogether? It was an option in 1.0.0.2.
Thank you for responding promptly. It’s good to see Mods and Developers actively involved with users.
Radius4
January 3, 2015 — 3:50 pm
cool stuff, if you manage to get an autoconfig file please contribute it
Luigi Burdo
January 6, 2015 — 5:29 pm
This is my Quad G5 PowerMac Running Libretro … i hope one day all core will works (no 4D0 , yabause, FinalBurn, Psx , N64)
Robert Eells
March 1, 2015 — 6:09 pm
what are the odds of you guys hooking up with the gba4ios dudes and getting them to share their gba link functions, which last i heard were still beta. stretch goal: cross platform multiplayer? as in i link my iphone to my friends android? like i said, stretch goal :p
Radius4
March 1, 2015 — 6:19 pm
it’s just a VBAM fork, there are already some cable-link implementations on that one, when something is stable and usable it will be added somehow.
They don’t really do anything to the emulator core they just packaged in a fancy UI
metalex lex
March 8, 2015 — 10:32 am
tengo varias preguntas
habra emulador de psp para xbox360?
o pcsx?
pudieran crear o hacer un port de minecraft para xbox360 directo de pc? para ponerle mods de esta version osea la de pc
Minute
March 9, 2015 — 11:38 pm
WHEN.
Radius4
March 10, 2015 — 12:00 am
it’s been out in some form of another for a looong time
Gemini
March 10, 2015 — 6:55 am
Please hurry up RetroArch 1.1’s development. I want to use it on my iPhone 6 Plus. You guys are taking too long with your developing. Just at least post a beta for it so that we can use the N64 emulator and stuff.
Patrick Cruz
April 3, 2015 — 8:40 pm
What is happens with Windows link??? i am trying download it for last 3 months !!
Radius4
April 3, 2015 — 10:12 pm
maybe you’re not looking in the correct place?
http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/win-x86_64/latest_RetroArch_full.7z
cabi 25
April 5, 2015 — 3:05 am
We who are waiting have been told “soon” for too long… Can we have an update from the team?
Just a new blog post saying, we are still working and are experiencing delays, would be nice. No update for months, I am looking forwarding to release, I just want to know something…
Minute
May 23, 2015 — 3:12 am
new blog post? please? update?
stalker_
May 25, 2015 — 4:58 pm
Guys: https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/commit/d45b3474df472d6855cf644280eb2fdd69a7e82d
Q: 1.1 stable where?!
A: Not going to happen. RetroArch 1.2 will get released instead.
ChrysMacZ
June 17, 2015 — 10:42 am
no more update since 6 months now…. 🙁