RetroArch 1.7.0 Released

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you are enjoying the days with your family.

Big Christmas release from the RetroArch release: RetroArch 1.7.0. Grab the latest release from here or from the Google Play Store.

From their blog post:

General changelog

– CHEEVOS: Add badges for achievements, shows thumbnail images of achievements.
– CHEEVOS: Leaderboard support.
– CHEEVOS: Only disable savestates on hardcore mode if achievements are not available.
– COMMANDLINE: Fix fullscreen toggle switch.
– COMMON: Add ‘Automatically Load Content To Playlist’ feature, enabled by default.
– COMMON: Fix slowmotion ratio always being reset back to 1.
– COMMON: Optimized NBIO implementations now for Apple, Windows, and Linux. Uses mmap for Linux/Windows/BSD if/when available. File I/O should now be much faster for loading images inside the menu.
– COMMON: Native Blissbox support now for latest firmware as of writing (2.0). Implementation through libusb and/or native Windows HID.
– COMMON: New lightgun API.
– COMMON: New VFS (Virtual File System) API.
– COMMON: Fixed some playlist bugs.
– COMMON: New snow shader.
– COMMON: Fix Quick Menu title, no longer shows ‘Select File’.
– COMMON: Fix loading cores that require no content one after another.
– COMMON: Map Delete key to Y button for non-unified menu keyboard controls.
– COMMON: Fix for relative paths being normalised and generating a duplicate history entry.
– EMSCRIPTEN: Fix references to browserfs.
– FREEBSD: Support libusb HID input driver.
– HAIKU: Buildfix.
– INPUT: Map clear button to DEL key.
– LINUX/X11: Add RetroArch logo to window title bar.
– LINUX/X11: Input driver now supports new lightgun code.
– LINUX/X11: Support window transparency (requires a compositing window manager).
– LOBBIES: Fix for crash on join netplay rooms via touch / glui.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Italian translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Japanese translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Portuguese-Brazilian translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Polish translation.
– LOCALIZATION: Update Russian translation.
– MENU: Snowflake menu shader effect.
– OSX/PPC: Fix the GL2 renderchain, had to use EXT versions of framebuffer/renderbuffer functions.
– PS3: HTTP requests / downloads should now work.
– PS3: Core Updater now works.
– PS3: Improved font rendering, enable STB Unicode font renderer.
– PSP: Make it work with Vita’s Adrenaline.
– PSP: Fix audio sync.
– PSP: Fix content loading, port should be functional again.
– PSP: Use 64MB when available.
– SCANNER: Fix crash from Windows-incompatible format string.
– VITA: Improve packaging, installation times.
– WIIU: Disabled the controller patcher for now since it was the source of many stability issues.
– VULKAN: Various stability fixes for WSI.
– WINDOWS: Add MSVC 2017 solution.
– WINDOWS: Get rid of the empty console window in MSVC 2010 builds.
– WINDOWS: Raw input driver now supports new lightgun code.
– WINDOWS: Use configured OSD/text message color on GDI driver.
– WINDOWS/XINPUT: Populate XInput VID/PID from DInput so autoconfig doesn’t rely solely on joypad names
– WINDOWS/XINPUT: Fix crash that occurs in some situations with Steam running and a Steam Controller plugged in.
– WINDOWS: Improve version reporting under System Information.
– WINDOWS: Support window transparency.
– WINDOWS: Correct usage of GetWindowPlacement per MS docs, fixes game window position on Win95/98.
– WINDOWS: Added Visual Studio 2017 support.

Highlights

Integrated Bliss-box support

Grab the newest firmware for this device and you can enjoy out-of-the-box Blissbox support with RetroArch on the following platforms:

  • Linux
  • Windows

For more information, read this separate article here.

This is a legit game changer. This peripheral will allow you to use real physical gamepads from all sorts of different game consoles through one interface.

Right now, only one of these devices is supported.

Badges for achievements

Improved lightgun support

Lightgun and mouse support has been added to both Beetle PSX and Beetle/Mednafen Saturn.

In other input-related news, mouse support has also been added to Beetle/Mednafen PCFX.

Windows 95/Windows 98 (non-SE) support

In a time and era where big companies get lazy and just throw away 32bit support for anything from drivers to operating systems, we have gone to the complete opposite side of the spectrum and started adding even more ancient/obsolete systems instead.

We already had a Windows 98 Second Edition/Millennium Edition/Windows 2000 version of RetroArch. But now, we go back even further in time! The MSVC 2003 version is a version of RetroArch that works on Windows 95 and Windows 98 (the First Version, before Second Edition).

Some things you should know about this version:

  • Rough around the edges, has been mainly tested so far on VMs (Virtual Machines) instead of real hardware.
  • Uses GDI as the default video driver. Our Direct3D driver so far requires DirectX 9 and Cg. It will take some work to make it backwards compatible with DirectX8.
  • We omitted the Windows NT 3.51/4 versions for now. The main issue with these versions is that they do not support DirectInput, so we have no real input drivers available for them.

Right out of the gate, there are 21 cores available for the Windows 95/98 version. Not too shabby, eh?

For more information, read this separate article here.

Improved PlayStation3 port

So many important improvements that have been made to the PlayStation3 port as a result of our newfound friendly collaboration with an RPCS3 dev:

    • Downloads now work
    • Netplay now works. You can netplay between two PS3s, or with another system that is also of the big-endian architecture. For instance – netplay between RetroArch PS3 and RetroArch Wii U works. NOTE: There might still be some endian-specific code in certain cores that can cause bugs.
    • Content Downloader works. You can download many demos and freeware homebrew games from this.
    • Thumbnail Downloader works. You can download boxarts and titles/snaps for your games from here.
    • Core Updater works. Now you can directly download freshly updated cores directly through the built-in Core Updater. New cores will be added over time, and best of all, you don’t need to install a new RetroArch version in order to obtain these new cores either.
    • Improved font rendering inside the menu. Non-Western languages are now also supported by this improved font rendering, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, etc.

New menu shader effects

PSP port works again

Wii U port works again

Wii U port should work fine again after some issues in previous versions.

Automatic scanning of content


This new option, when enabled, will add any new content you load from the file browser (Load Content) to your playlists. If a playlist does not already exist for the specific core and/or game, one will be created on-the-fly. This option is disabled by default, so watch the video if you’d like to learn how to enable it.

There’s more

There’s a ton more that we have properly not covered in this blog article, but we leave it up to the user to discover that for themselves.

What’s coming next for RetroArch

We will have a separate blog post on this soon, as well as more separate blog articles detailing some of the other progress that has been made on the cores front.

If you’d like to show your support for RetroArch, consider donating to them. Check here in order to learn more.

Recalbox 17.12.02

Recalbox got released in a new version including a bug fix: looks like in the version released the other day, many experienced lags while browsing their game lists.

We released the 17.12.01 version last Friday and some people detected some lags while browsing games and even while playing.

This was due to the steam controller service that was always started on boot, even if you don’t have a steam controller.

We fixed that behavior, and you can now upgrade your recalbox to 17.12.02.

For a fresh install, download recalbox images on archive.recalbox.com

Source: https://www.recalbox.com/blog/en/post/blog-2017-12-03-recalbox-17.12.02/

Recalbox 17.12.01

The Recalbox team continues to deliver new releases; this time 17.12.01 was released yesterday. Many new features were included like

  • We have done a big emulators update. So retroarch gets bumped on 1.6.9, ScummVM on 1.10.0 “unstable”, DosBox on 0.74 r4063 (Thanks lmerckx) and all libretro cores have been bumped on last version ! See more on this dedicated blogpost
    For your information, the fba-libretro core is now based on fba v0.2.97.42.
    So don’t forget to upgrade your romset before playing. The new .dat files are available here !
  • On X86 and X86_64 Recalbox version, you can now emulate PSX with the mednafen_psx cores ! See more on this dedicated blogpost
  • Dolphin emulator now supports hotkey shortcuts and you can access to the GUI settings. We also enhanced the emulated wiimotes support !
  • On X86 and X86_64 we added a new software, imlib2_grab to be able to take command line screenshots !
  • On X86 and X86_64 again, the boot menu (GRUB) have now a verbose option, to help you/us in support.
  • We also fixed a bug about configuration of several wifi networks. Thanks OyyoDams
  • From Odroid C2 & XU4 side, you can now play N64 with the mupen64plus GLideN64 video plugin (defined by default on XU4) !
  • And some other points that you can read on the changelog displayed on your Recalbox !

Check out their blog post here.

Recalbox 17.11.10

Recalbox keeps on delivering; time for 17.11.10. From their blog:

We keep the release rate quite high with this new 17.11.10 version of Recalbox !

Let’s get in the depths of the new features :

  • If you’re following us, you’ve seen our tease on Hyperion, which turns your Recalbox into an ambilight-like system if you have the right hardware ! See more on this dedicated blogpost
  • Add Petrock’s controlblock quirk to make it recognize the 2 players. Thank you @petrockblog!
  • You can now suffix a .scummvm to the directories name in the scummvm rom folder ! Once you do this, you won’t have to browse in the subfolder to start the game. You can even scrap the directory for better visuals ! Remember you still need the .scummvm file inside the folder. For example : call your Monkey Island 2 folder monkey2.scummvm, scrape, and play !
  • New pads configured out of the box: Nintendo Wii U Pro Controller and Switch Pro Controller, 8bitdo FC30 Arcade (BT and USB), Thrustmaster T Mini Wireless and Orange Controller
  • Added a new Lynx core (libretro-handy) by default. This new core should be less exacting with romsets !

On a side note, we’ve made a big internal change again on the Recalbox repository structure. This was a major step leading to a general upgrade of the Linux we’re built on. The 2nd stage is almost ready and will be open for testers very soon, and the 3rd stage will be that major upgrade ! Oh did I forgot to mention that this 3rd step will bring Kodi 17 ?

We do keep our word with new releases, don’t we ? 😉

Yes, you guys do and it is much appreciated 🙂 Thanks.

Grab the latest version from here.

recalbox 4.1 is out

Not only the Lakka team got news, also the recalbox got an exciting headline after quite some time of development: Recalbox 4.1 just got released with some great features and updates.

Here you go:

At last … After more than a year of development, several public unstable releases starting from February with quite much feedback from all of you, dear community, and many other changes that you wouldn’t see (new blog, new infrastructure, new way of developing/building/releasing, and much more …)

We are really glad to release this 4.1 version of Recalbox ! Here are some of the main features of this new version:

  • Bluetooth has been totally reworked (and I DO mean totally rewritten) so we can support the Pi3 internal bluetooth. Please note you MUST pair again all your devices, that’s something that can’t be upgraded.
  • New supported boards : Odroid XU4 and C2, PC X86 (32 and 64 bits) … as well as the Pi0-w !
  • Regarding the EmulationStation side : many new translations, contextual help, new favourite icons, update download progress percentage, Screenscraper natively supported, audio output device selection, many bugs solved … and a virtual keyboard!
  • A new web manager, thanks to DjLeChuck. Go to http://recalbox (Windows only) or http://recalbox.local (Linux and MAC)
  • New drivers for XBox360, DualShock3 + DualShock4 pads supported on bluetooth (all pads generations may not be compatible)
  • New systems : AppleII, DOS, PSP, Dreamcast and … Commodore64 ! And even Gamecube and Wii (but only on PC 64 bits)? Those systems are not available on all boards. If you see no new folder in the roms directory, then the system is not supported on your board.
  • New MAME emulator : advancemame 3.4 (only available on Pi for now)
  • Better support for TFT screens
  • No more trouble with FAT32 formatting ! Recalbox is now also available as an image format !

And many other new features that you’ll discover as soon as your Recalbox is updated ! So join us on the forums to celebrate this new release and to share your feedback (and bugs … eventually … I hope not !)

One last thing : please be patient during the update. Recalbox will have to reboot several times, the screen can turn black for a while … Do not worry, it’s al under control ! Just let your Recalbox work !

PS : Want more ? Have a look here for the complete changelog (that will anyway be displayed once your upgrade is over), .img are available on the complete download page.

And if you ever feel unpatient during the update and want to spoil yourself with some new features of 4.1 have a look on the 4.1 Youtube playlist.
Source: Recalbox

RetroArch 1.6.7 -Released

RetroArch 1.6.7 just got released as a bugfix version to 1.6.6 which just got released the other day.

What changed? Here are the highlights:

  • Complete overhaul of the mobile User Interface! (MaterialUI)
  • Nintendo 3DS regression fix – all cores were running slower: This is actually the main reason why v1.6.7 was released so quickly

And this is the general changelog from 1.6.7

  • SCANNER: Fix directory scanning.
  •   CANNER: Fix file scanning.
  • COMMON: Fix ‘Disk Image Append’ option.
  •   REEBSD: Compatibility fixes for Video4Linux2 camera driver.
  •   UI: (MaterialUI) Add disk image append icons.
  •   UI: (MaterialUI) Improve word wrapping when menu icons are enabled.
  •   UI: (MaterialUI) Add User Interface -> Appearance -> Menu Icons Enable. You can turn on/off the icons on the lefthand side of the menu entries.
  • GUI: Performance optimizations for XMB menu driver – only calculates visible items.
  • LOCALIZATION: Update Italian translation.

In v 1.6.6 and 1.6.7  many cores got updated including

  • Snes9x 2005
  • Genesis Plus GX
  • Parallel N64
  • P-UAE
  • Beetle PSX
  • Beetle PC Engine Fast
  • Beetle PC-FX
  • Beetle Saturn
  • Beetle SuperGrafx
  • Final Burn Alpha
  • ProSystem

Get more details from here.

RetroArch 1.6.3 is out

Libretro announced on their blog the release of the next version of RetroArch which is v1.6.3. To get the newest release go over to this page.

From their “General changelog” this is what changed:

IOS: Fix GL regression – 32bit color format cores were no longer rendering
CHEEVOS: Add support for N64 cheevos and other small fixes.
CHEEVOS: Add ‘Achievements -> Achievements Verbose Mode’. Ability to display cheevos related messages in OSD, useful for RetroAchievements users.
AUDIO: Audio mixer’s volume can now be independently increased/decreased, and muted.
AUDIO: Mute now no longer disables/enables audio but instead properly mutes the audio volume. Mute is also independent from the audio mixer volume.
INPUT: Add mouse index selection; ability now to select between different mice
INPUT: Fix ‘All Users Control Menu’ setting
LINUX: Add a tinyalsa audio driver. Doesn’t require asoundlib, should be self-contained and lower-level.
LOBBIES: Announce the RetroArch version too
LOCALIZATION: Add Traditional Chinese translation
LOCALIZATION: Update French translation
LOCALIZATION: Update Italian translation
LOCALIZATION: Update Japanese translation
LOCALIZATION: Update Russian translation
MENU: Add ‘User Interface -> Views’. Ability to display/hide online updater and core updater options.
NETPLAY: Disconnecting one client shouldn’t cause everyone to disconnect anymore
NETWORK: SSL/TLS support, disabled by default
SCANNER: Fix PS1 game scanning
SCANNER: Move content list builder into scanner task with progress, fixes menu freeze with large playlists
SDL2: Fix ‘SDL2 driver does not see the hat on wired Xbox 360 controller”
SETTINGS: Fix regression ‘Custom Viewport is no longer overridable per-core or per-game’
VITA: Add cheevos support
VITA: Add support for external USB if mounted
WAYLAND: Fix menu mouse input
WII: Add support for single-port ‘PS1/PS2 to USB controller adapter’

There are many port specific changes too, which details you will find on their blog post.