RetroArch v1.0.0.0 release information

RetroArch 1.0.0.0 was a big release in many ways, and I haven’t really gotten a chance to explain all of the under-the-hood changes that went into it.

So here goes a belated explanation per platform –

Cores

• Dinothawr – added for Android/iOS/OSX/PC. Also available as a standalone game from the Google Play Store.
• Mupen64 libretro – added for Android/iOS/OSX/PC/Blackberry
• MAME 2010 – added for Android/PC
• ScummVM – added for iOS (by mistake but what the hell)

General changes to RetroArch that affect all platforms

• All platforms now have the same basic menu layout, only the “presentation” might differ due to different presentation layers per platform.
• It is now possible to select an input file (ie. a ROM) and then have RetroArch look for associated cores. This way, you don’t have to manually select a core, and then run a ROM that is compatible with that core. This new feature is called ‘Detect Core’.
• Core info files (used by the Detect Core feature).
• There is now a ‘History list’ feature that keeps track of all the games you have played. This is a quick and convenient way to restart games you’ve played before in the past.
• The libretro API has been expanded in scope to include accelerometer, camera and location support. Implementation drivers have been written for Android and iOS in specific, and a couple of test cores showcase the camera and location services working in a libretro core.
• The overlay system has been revised. Buttons now light up when you press them and it’s possible to have separate buttons now instead of one big image. Analog input has also been added to the overlay system to allow for DualShock/N64 overlays.
• Per-core configuration options.
• All platform ports should now have ‘Auto SRAM Save’ options.
• Input has been totally revised – it is now possible (in most platform ports) to bind buttons with the gamepad through RGUI.
• Input autodetect feature – should work for PS3, Xboxes, Wii and Gamecube. Previously this was an Android-only feature.
• Keyboard search for Content selection – this currently works only on PC – press ‘/’ to be able to input text. You can search for files quickly this way.

Android

• (UI) Android UI totally revised – courtesy of Lioncash (contributor also to Dolphin Android/Mupen64 AE).
• (UI) It is now possible to uninstall cores that you don’t want to use.

iOS

• iOS 7 support.
• iOS 7 gamepad support. Has been tested to work with Moga iOS 7 gamepad.
• (Core) PCSX ReARMed now has an interpreter CPU core option. This can be used on non-jailbroken iDevices.

OSX

• Totally rewritten OSX port. It now has a native Cocoa UI. It shares most of the code with the iOS port.
• Compatible with OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) up to OSX 10.9 (Mavericks). If we get a MacBook PPC, we might make it backwards compatible with that too.
• Native OSX gamepad support – your mileage may vary.
• (Lion 10.7 and up) Fullscreen mode.
• Libretro GL support (for Macs that have OpenGL 2.0+-complaint GPUs).

PlayStation3

• Revised menu – now at feature parity with the other platform ports.
• Revised OpenGL implementation driver. Should now have the lowest latency of all platform ports.
• Input overlays now work. This will be used to full effect for the next release.

Xbox 1

• Revised menu – now at feature parity with the other platform ports.

Wii

• Revised menu – now at feature parity with the other platform ports.
• Fixed audio stuttering on low FPS/exit.

GameCube

• Revised menu – now at feature parity with the other platform ports.
• Fixed audio stuttering on low FPS/exit.

NOTE: This blog post is a Work In Progress. It will be updated as we go along. There are also numerous other additions made that can’t be summarized for the sake of brevity.