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RETROARCH - The all-in-one emulator dreams are made of, son

Lordbarker

Neo Member
Hi there,

I'm using the latest official build on Win 7 64bit. I use my Wiimote on the Dolphin emulator regularly without issue, however I can't get Retroarch to detect it, as I would like to use my classic controller for SNES cores and use the wiimote for Time Crisis etc. on MAME. Just wondered if there was a guide to set this up? I had a look in the input driver choices and only have 'SDL' or 'Direct', and wondered if this was the issue?
Thanks
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
I am going to buy a new 5:4 monitor for exclusive use with Retroarch and I found this model:

http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/professional-model-datasheet/UM.CV6EE.017

In the data sheet it says:

Standard Refresh Rate 75 Hz

Does it mean if I run games fixed at 60Hz I can forget smooth scrolling?

Quick, semi-related question: why 5:4 and not 4:3? I have a relatively-recent 5:4 monitor that I thought I could use with Retroarch if I ever built a dedicated PC for it, but I quickly dimissed the idea since most games are 4:3.
 

Lettuce

Member
Done some alterations to the NDS layout so the screens are closer together and also done a White NDS overlay.....

NsSKaj1.jpg




There are 1080p and 1440p versions HERE
 

Awakened

Member
Hi there,

I'm using the latest official build on Win 7 64bit. I use my Wiimote on the Dolphin emulator regularly without issue, however I can't get Retroarch to detect it, as I would like to use my classic controller for SNES cores and use the wiimote for Time Crisis etc. on MAME. Just wondered if there was a guide to set this up? I had a look in the input driver choices and only have 'SDL' or 'Direct', and wondered if this was the issue?
Thanks
I don't think any other emulator besides Dolphin supports Wiimote natively. You would need some kind of adapter or software wrapper to get it to show up as a direct or x input device. There's a review for the Dolphin Bar that says one of it's modes lets you "use the wiimote + extensions as a direct input controller". Which sounds like it would make the classic controller extension show up as direct input and thus be mappable in RetroArch. If Time Crisis supports mouse input in MAME (you need to turn on the mouse core option in the RA core version to check) you could put the Dolphin Bar in mouse mode to play using the IR.

I also found some info about using GlovePie and PPJoy software to get the Wiimote and/or classic controller working as direct input, but it sounds messy.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
Quick question: Does anyone know how to activate the Rumble on the Mednafen core using an emulated DualShock, with a real Xbox 360 gamepad? I can play just fine with the dual analogs, but the rumble doesn't seem to work.
 

Lettuce

Member
Radius4, is there any chance for future builds to have all the .dll files from the redist.zip placed in a 'DLL' folder and have RA look in that folder for the .dll files??. Just to make the install folder more tidy?
 

Radius4

Member
I don't think you can tell applications where to look for libraries so nope.

You could add your RetroArch/DLL folder to your path environment variable. That could work.
 

Lettuce

Member
Ok ill give it a go.

Regarding the DeSmuME new screen gab option, its not very configurable at the moment with only 3 preset settings, will it be possible to set custom gaps at any point?.

On the subject of DeSmuME, the handheld LCD-Shader i have noticed that when changing the aspect ratio with the custom aspect setting, the screen will jump in size when you get to a certain point in adjust the screen so it fits an overlay and thus the screen gets too large. Any ideas why this jump in screen size happens and doesnt scale in small increments?
 

Awakened

Member
Quick question: Does anyone know how to activate the Rumble on the Mednafen core using an emulated DualShock, with a real Xbox 360 gamepad? I can play just fine with the dual analogs, but the rumble doesn't seem to work.
If you are on the 1.0.0.3 beta or a nightly you need to have the joypad driver set to winxinput and User 1 Device Type set to DualShock.
 

Lordbarker

Neo Member
I don't think any other emulator besides Dolphin supports Wiimote natively. You would need some kind of adapter or software wrapper to get it to show up as a direct or x input device. There's a review for the Dolphin Bar that says one of it's modes lets you "use the wiimote + extensions as a direct input controller". Which sounds like it would make the classic controller extension show up as direct input and thus be mappable in RetroArch. If Time Crisis supports mouse input in MAME (you need to turn on the mouse core option in the RA core version to check) you could put the Dolphin Bar in mouse mode to play using the IR.

I also found some info about using GlovePie and PPJoy software to get the Wiimote and/or classic controller working as direct input, but it sounds messy.

Thanks turns out using the Toshiba Bluetooth stack and Wiinsoft works :) Got my Club Nintendo Super Nes pad working which is great. Also managed to sort out my Glovepie script for Lightgun stuff too cheers.


Next query: Can anyone recommend a decent shader for the N64 emulator? Using the CRT effects doesn't make it look natural - even if I add anti-aliasing etc. Wonder what are some best settings people can recommend? Without having to go into NTSC fuzzzz. :)
 

Glass Joe

Member
Well, I figured out my v-sync issue and feel silly. I downloaded a steam game on this new comp (Fez) and even that was tearing too. I assume that the minor tearing was always there but just more evident in 2D games. Anyway, that made me consider my graphics card and sure enough, it was an issue with my graphics card driver itself and nothing to do with retroarch. Just booted up SMB and it scrolled great. It's kind of weird how those standalone emulators could be tweaked to get results but retroarch couldn't but I digress. I was stumbling over the wrong path entirely. Thanks for those who offered advice, even though I'm just a dumb ass!
 

Awakened

Member
Next query: Can anyone recommend a decent shader for the N64 emulator? Using the CRT effects doesn't make it look natural - even if I add anti-aliasing etc. Wonder what are some best settings people can recommend? Without having to go into NTSC fuzzzz. :)
The CRT shaders look much better if you change the internal resolution to 320x240 in the core options.
 

Giever

Member
So, I'm on 1.0.0.3 beta, but I can't seem to actually load any content? I have the path options set up to point to my backups directory correctly, but whenever I select load content, it just goes to a screen without any folder choices whatsoever, though it seems I'm in the content folder in Retroarch's directory. If I click any buttons, it crashes. =/

EDIT: If I put a file in Retroarch's default content directory, it seems to actually appear, and I can select it, and it will start to try loading it, but then still crashes..
 

Awakened

Member
So, I'm on 1.0.0.3 beta, but I can't seem to actually load any content? I have the path options set up to point to my backups directory correctly, but whenever I select load content, it just goes to a screen without any folder choices whatsoever, though it seems I'm in the content folder in Retroarch's directory. If I click any buttons, it crashes. =/

EDIT: If I put a file in Retroarch's default content directory, it seems to actually appear, and I can select it, and it will start to try loading it, but then still crashes..
Somewhat confusingly, you want to set your browser directory to where your ROM/ISOs are, not the content directory. I think content directory is only used for non emulation cores like tyrquake to point to data files, but I haven't tried those yet to know for sure.
 

Giever

Member
Somewhat confusingly, you want to set your browser directory to where your ROM/ISOs are, not the content directory. I think content directory is only used for non emulation cores like tyrquake to point to data files, but I haven't tried those yet to know for sure.

Thanks! Though I found that out on my own, eventually. Also, though I was able to successfully select the ROM thanks to the method in my edit, I think it was crashing then just because the mednafen GBA core is crashy for me. :(

Finally got it figured out with the browser directory and a VBA core, though.
 

Lordbarker

Neo Member
CRT shaders look much better if you change the internal resolution to 320x240 in the core options

Thanks - the arcade and SFC roms look great, just how they used to look when I had my consoles hooked up to an arcade monitor, but I'll give this a shot! I run a 90" projector - so hopefully can get the N64 side of things looking nice :D
 

Lordbarker

Neo Member
Still struggling to get the N64 emultion looking decent. Changing the internal resolution doesn't do a great deal tbh. All my other emulators look great, any recommendation for specific settings?
Thanks in advance.
 

Awakened

Member
Still struggling to get the N64 emultion looking decent. Changing the internal resolution doesn't do a great deal tbh. All my other emulators look great, any recommendation for specific settings?
Thanks in advance.
I made this zip of my shaders folder you could try out. I use Royale as my default shader for all console emulators I run through RetroArch because I like the shadow mask it has and how it manages to keep the image sharp and bright. Bear in mind that the one included in that zip is configured optimally for Nvidia cards. If you clear out your shader folder and replace it with the contents of that zip, you can use the Next/Previous shader keys (N and M by default, can be mapped to buttons too) to switch to any of the others I've included on the fly.

For Mupen64 core options I use Glide64 as the video plugin since it seems to be the most compatible while maintaining full speed. Angrylion is very accurate, but too slow. Glide64 has visual issues with many games, but is decent enough for now. I use automatic for the filtering setting except for a few games like Mischeif Makers which looks less blurry on nearest. The other graphics settings I use the defaults, except resolution. Here are some shots at 320x240 internal res with Royale:
 

Lordbarker

Neo Member
I made this zip of my shaders folder you could try out. I use Royale as my default shader for all console emulators I run through RetroArch because I like the shadow mask it has and how it manages to keep the image sharp and bright. Bear in mind that the one included in that zip is configured optimally for Nvidia cards.

Hmm, I get a black screen when using any of these royale shaders. The audio works but no image on screen. Any ideas?
It's mainly Shader presets #4 #5 #6 if I scroll through the rest seem fine.
 

Awakened

Member
Hmm, I get a black screen when using any of these royale shaders. The audio works but no image on screen. Any ideas?
It's mainly Shader presets #4 #5 #6 if I scroll through the rest seem fine.
I have a 570, so you shouldn't have a problem with any of them, in theory. Some shaders only work on the gl video driver, so if you switched to d3d that could be the problem. Updating your video drivers might help also if they're really old.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
I have a quick (though dumb) question.

According to ZSNES documentation (yeah, I know, but info is info):

Please note that the internal resolution of the SNES is 256x224. Certain special high-resolution modes can produce up to 512x448 resolution. You may notice that the internal resolution has an 8:7 aspect ratio. SNES video output is not intended to be viewed at this aspect ratio, however. The 8:7 video signal would normally be scaled to a more-typical 4:3 aspect ratio when viewed on a television.

If I set the internal resolution of the BSNES (Balanced) core to "Core Provided", it stretches out the image a bit. If I set it to PAR (1:1) or 8:7, the image looks properly scaled. But given that an original SNES was "supposed" to be cropped to 4:3... which setting should I be using to get as close to a real SNES as possible?

I'm thinking that I should set it to 8:7 and be done with it, but I don't know if any game expected to be shown in a 4:3 screen and therefore present issues or glitches or whatever.
 

Palom

Member
I'm thinking that I should set it to 8:7 and be done with it, but I don't know if any game expected to be shown in a 4:3 screen and therefore present issues or glitches or whatever.

I think it's personal preference, but I use 8:7. I used to always fiddle with knobs on my TV that would pinch and stretch the image to try and reduce overscan, and 4:3 never looks quite right to me.
 

Awakened

Member
I'm thinking that I should set it to 8:7 and be done with it, but I don't know if any game expected to be shown in a 4:3 screen and therefore present issues or glitches or whatever.
The easiest examples are the moon over Magus' castle in Chrono Trigger and Pacman on the title screen of Pac-In-Time looking squished at 8:7, but proper at 4:3. I think Megaman X's sprite looks squished at 8:7 too; his helmet looks more properly round to me at 4:3. But I've gotten used to 4:3 so everything looks a bit wrong to me at 8:7 now.
 
I'm a little confused at how the cores are now supposed to work on the latest nightlies. It used to be I'd download the main retroarch zip, one for the cores, and I'm done. Now it looks like the nightly updates for the cores are incremental now, and somehow I can update/download the cores via Retroarch itself?
 

Radius4

Member
The manager inside RetroArch is almost there, we're just missing an unzip function and a way for RA to figure out a core was updated.
I'll add a latest.zip to the nightlies folder, I forgot to do so.

The latest folder has all the cores in their latest successful build.
 

Knurek

Member
Ever since --gameboy was switched to --subsystem sgb, I haven't had any luck with loading SGB games into BSNES core.
Getting either black screen, SGB border with garbled image or straight out app crashes.

Is this feature still not implemented properly? Using Win_x64 build with the latest bsnes_balanced_libretro.dll

Since neither of the GB cores support SGB borders (colorization, yes, borders no), it would be nice to have this feature.

The command I've been trying is
Code:
retroarch.exe -L .\cores\bsnes_balanced_libretro.dll --subsystem sgb "Super Game Boy.sfc" "Mario Picross 2.gb"
 

Lettuce

Member
Anyone one had any experience using either the Raspberry Pi B+ or Banana Pi devices, is the banana the better supported platform for running retroarch?

Im thinking of putting either the raspberry or banana in a arcade stick for an all in one retro device
 

Radius4

Member
Ever since --gameboy was switched to --subsystem sgb, I haven't had any luck with loading SGB games into BSNES core.
Getting either black screen, SGB border with garbled image or straight out app crashes.

Is this feature still not implemented properly? Using Win_x64 build with the latest bsnes_balanced_libretro.dll

Since neither of the GB cores support SGB borders (colorization, yes, borders no), it would be nice to have this feature.

The command I've been trying is
Code:
retroarch.exe -L .coresbsnes_balanced_libretro.dll --subsystem sgb "Super Game Boy.sfc" "Mario Picross 2.gb"

Yeah it hasn't been hooked up
 

Knurek

Member
Yeah it hasn't been hooked up

Pity, because as I said, no other available core supports them (and other GB emulators that support them don't have those nice Retroarch features like rewind and autosaves)

Is there any ETA on this feature working again, or are you guys busy with other things?
 

Radius4

Member
I think it's such a niche feature that SP might have forgot.
It would be pretty cool to have it implemented since that would allow TGB dual to run two different games at the same time
 
When I try to play with some of the newest builds, I am unable to use two identical 360 controllers for the first and second player. They are both seen by Retroarch as the same controller. Is there an easy way around this or is it just a bug?

Thanks a bunch!
 
I'm trying to run Kojima's Snatcher on the Genesis-Plus-GX core using both the x64 release and core binaries found here but it crashes as soon as I open the game.
I don't even have the time to read the crash log displayed on the cmd prompt. Is there a crash log file dumped anywhere ? (I couldn't find any info about that anywhere)
 
I'm trying to run Kojima's Snatcher on the Genesis-Plus-GX core using both the x64 release and core binaries found here but it crashes as soon as I open the game.
I don't even have the time to read the crash log displayed on the cmd prompt. Is there a crash log file dumped anywhere ? (I couldn't find any info about that anywhere)

You need to have Sega CD bios in your system folder.
 
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