• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

RetroArch |OT| Emulation Heaven

Awakened

Awakened

Member
Oct 27, 2017
506
I would still say CHD is the superior compressed format, since it's fully open source (PBP is reverse engineered from Sony's proprietary format) and the tool to compress to it comes from MAME's official site. I would upload PSX2PSP to VirusTotal before running it no matter where you get it from. CHD should have better compression for redbook audio games too, since it compresses it with FLAC. CHD's only real weakness is no support for multidisc games in a single file, but is it really that big a deal to create .m3u files for those? It's just a text file with a list of each disc's filename.
 
Rufus

Rufus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
402
Germany
Awakened said:
I would still say CHD is the superior compressed format, since it's fully open source (PBP is reverse engineered from Sony's proprietary format) and the tool to compress to it comes from MAME's official site. I would upload PSX2PSP to VirusTotal before running it no matter where you get it from. CHD should have better compression for redbook audio games too, since it compresses it with FLAC. CHD's only real weakness is no support for multidisc games in a single file, but is it really that big a deal to create .m3u files for those? It's just a text file with a list of each disc's filename.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
+1
The resulting files are a little larger than 7z archives, but they don't need to be decompressed to play.

The only issue is that there are standalone emulators which don't support the format.
 
BlockABoots

BlockABoots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,548
Awakened said:
I would still say CHD is the superior compressed format, since it's fully open source (PBP is reverse engineered from Sony's proprietary format) and the tool to compress to it comes from MAME's official site. I would upload PSX2PSP to VirusTotal before running it no matter where you get it from. CHD should have better compression for redbook audio games too, since it compresses it with FLAC. CHD's only real weakness is no support for multidisc games in a single file, but is it really that big a deal to create .m3u files for those? It's just a text file with a list of each disc's filename.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

THIS!

CHD are so more easier to maintain, just 1 file for each game and have better compression for disk space as well!

I hope all CD based emulation software/hardware will support this file type going forward!!
 
androvsky

androvsky

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,502
Since we're on the subject of ripped discs, somehow most of my Saturn game rips are hosed so I get to re-rip them. But from part of the process of figuring out what's going on with them, I found apparently Retroarch doesn't scan Saturn and Sega CD games well? Is there a metadata scraper somewhere that works with game titles instead of checksums or nonexistent volume IDs, and will output something Retroarch can understand?
 
Jazzem

Jazzem

Member
Feb 2, 2018
2,680
PGamer said:
Libretro Cores Progress Report – April 2, 2020
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Beetle PSX
  • Added "fast PAL" hack to allow PAL games to play at NTSC framerates
  • Added Force NTSC aspect ratio
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Ahhh this is a really neat inclusion!

This could be great for folks ripping their PAL libraries, as well as cases where there isn't a US NTSC release of a game (Mega Man X3, Mega Man Battle 'n Chase, Earthworm Jim 2, Mickey's Wild Adventure, Gunner's Heaven etc)

Granted I suspect 'fast PAL' will cause issues in some games, but I'd have thought that for any unoptimised ones (ie most of them...) it'll work a charm
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 5956

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
353
androvsky said:
Since we're on the subject of ripped discs, somehow most of my Saturn game rips are hosed so I get to re-rip them. But from part of the process of figuring out what's going on with them, I found apparently Retroarch doesn't scan Saturn and Sega CD games well? Is there a metadata scraper somewhere that works with game titles instead of checksums or nonexistent volume IDs, and will output something Retroarch can understand?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Don't worry about that, Retroarch now has a manual scan that will make a playlist from whatever you throw at it.
 
Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,257
Does someone know a good, registration-free image-hoster to upload custom borders too? They are too big for Imgur I think :/
 
Mar Tuuk

Mar Tuuk

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,566
I just installed Retroarch but its not in Sony XMB style?

Also anywhere I can find a list of best cores per console?

Thanks!
 
Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,257
NyMartin90 said:
Thanks!
Also for anyone here are there compatibility issues if I have several different cores installed? For example I have an N64 core installed but also want to install a PS1/2 core.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

No problem! And no, that's exactly what Retroarch was designed for, install all the cores you want, you can then assign cores to specific games even and set one default core for every game-system with hand-picked exceptions.
 
Mar Tuuk

Mar Tuuk

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,566
Skyfireblaze said:
No problem! And no, that's exactly what Retroarch was designed for, install all the cores you want, you can then assign cores to specific games even and set one default core for every game-system with hand-picked exceptions.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Thanks is there a tutorial you can shoot me towards on how to assign cores and set default cores?
 
Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,257
NyMartin90 said:
Thanks is there a tutorial you can shoot me towards on how to assign cores and set default cores?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

For default cores invoke the Desktop UI, you can create playlists there and assign a core to each playlist. For individual ROMs just select any ROM in the XMB and there will be an option called "Set Core Association".
 
Mar Tuuk

Mar Tuuk

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,566
Thanks Skyfireblaze
So I got my SNES, Genesis, N64 all running but I started dabbling with PSP on the PPSSPP core and all of the games would either freeze at load/ title screen or not play at all. Retroarch would crash and when I try to load Retroarch again it wouldn't load prompting uninstall and reinstall. Tried it 3 times but I installed PPSSPP standalone onto my pc and the games ran flawlessly. Any thoughts what could be the problem? I changed gl to vulkan each time on Retroarch since I heard that could be an issue.
 
alr1ght

alr1ght

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,047
Is there a way to boot up a specific instance of Retroarch via shortcut commands? I have it set up to start up on my CRT by default, but sometimes I want to boot it to my main monitor. I know I can make a second folder with a completely different RA setup, but if I can share the saves/library/etc that would be ideal.
 
Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,257
NyMartin90 said:
Thanks Skyfireblaze
So I got my SNES, Genesis, N64 all running but I started dabbling with PSP on the PPSSPP core and all of the games would either freeze at load/ title screen or not play at all. Retroarch would crash and when I try to load Retroarch again it wouldn't load prompting uninstall and reinstall. Tried it 3 times but I installed PPSSPP standalone onto my pc and the games ran flawlessly. Any thoughts what could be the problem? I changed gl to vulkan each time on Retroarch since I heard that could be an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

No problem! :) Sorry to hear about PPSSPP though, that's odd o.o I sadly have no idea about that as I don't use the PPSSPP core but if I come across anything I'll let you know. What does the log-file say when that happens?

alr1ght said:
Is there a way to boot up a specific instance of Retroarch via shortcut commands? I have it set up to start up on my CRT by default, but sometimes I want to boot it to my main monitor. I know I can make a second folder with a completely different RA setup, but if I can share the saves/library/etc that would be ideal.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hmm it wouldn't be that elegant but theoretically you can make two different retroarch.cfg config files and then use two .bat files to copy the respective config into place and launch Retroarch.exe.
 
Mar Tuuk

Mar Tuuk

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,566
Skyfireblaze said:
No problem! :) Sorry to hear about PPSSPP though, that's odd o.o I sadly have no idea about that as I don't use the PPSSPP core but if I come across anything I'll let you know. What does the log-file say when that happens?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I managed to solve it after reboot!

Also so one of the last things I wanted was to play arcade games. Which mame core is best suited here?
 

Deleted member 419

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,009
NyMartin90 said:
I managed to solve it after reboot!

Also so one of the last things I wanted was to play arcade games. Which mame core is best suited here?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I've had better luck/more convenience using the Final Burn Alpha (FBA) cores instead of MAME on Retroarch, you may want to look into those instead. Retroarch staple features like save states and runahead worked much better (not sure if MAME cores have improved since then).

I consider MAME more of a hassle than it's worth. With FBA you lose some compatibility and some accuracy in exchange for significantly less setup.
 
Awakened

Awakened

Member
Oct 27, 2017
506
FiveSide said:
I've had better luck/more convenience using the Final Burn Alpha (FBA) cores instead of MAME on Retroarch, you may want to look into those instead. Retroarch staple features like save states and runahead worked much better (not sure if MAME cores have improved since then).

I consider MAME more of a hassle than it's worth. With FBA you lose some compatibility and some accuracy in exchange for significantly less setup.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's Final Burn Neo now. Don't bother with the old FBA cores unless your device is too slow with Neo. I transitioned from current MAME to FBN last year and it is much better integrated into libretro. Everything is configured with core options instead of having to use a separate interface. Fast forward works much better and runahead works too as long as you use secondary instance. They've added a lot more drivers over the years so many more games are supported, but you'll definitely be missing stuff compared to MAME. You can check FBN's supported list of games here.
 

Deleted member 419

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,009
Awakened said:
It's Final Burn Neo now. Don't bother with the old FBA cores unless your device is too slow with Neo. I transitioned from current MAME to FBN last year and it is much better integrated into libretro. Everything is configured with core options instead of having to use a separate interface. Fast forward works much better and runahead works too as long as you use secondary instance. They've added a lot more drivers over the years so many more games are supported, but you'll definitely be missing stuff compared to MAME. You can check FBN's supported list of games here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
MAME standalone is great for preservation/recreation purposes but yea in this Retroarch context, FBA (now FBN good to know) is just straight up the better option in 99% of use cases.
 
Awakened

Awakened

Member
Oct 27, 2017
506
FiveSide said:
MAME standalone is great for preservation/recreation purposes but yea in this Retroarch context, FBA (now FBN good to know) is just straight up the better option in 99% of use cases.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The devs are great too. I reported a fair amount of graphical and sound issues compared to MAME and most were fixed within a few days. Everything I play is now on par with MAME AFAICT.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,208
Awakened said:
I would still say CHD is the superior compressed format, since it's fully open source (PBP is reverse engineered from Sony's proprietary format) and the tool to compress to it comes from MAME's official site. I would upload PSX2PSP to VirusTotal before running it no matter where you get it from. CHD should have better compression for redbook audio games too, since it compresses it with FLAC. CHD's only real weakness is no support for multidisc games in a single file, but is it really that big a deal to create .m3u files for those? It's just a text file with a list of each disc's filename.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Is it superior because it's open source or is it superior because it can further reduce file sizes with no negative impacts on loading? Because if it's just the former, then there's no reason to not use pbp, IMO.

The problem with the m3u -- more if a nitpick, really -- is that you can't rename your game files without having to edit the information inside cue files too. And as someone who likes to remove clutter from my file names, it's a faster process to convert everything to pbps than to rename bin files, cue files, edit cue files to make sure the track listings match, and then convert to chd.

And then the ease affords me multi-disc support. I don't see a downside. Especially since I already ripped and converted everything into pbps and I really don't feel like doing that shit again just to get chd files, lol.
 
Awakened

Awakened

Member
Oct 27, 2017
506
TheMadTitan said:
Is it superior because it's open source or is it superior because it can further reduce file sizes with no negative impacts on loading? Because if it's just the former, then there's no reason to not use pbp, IMO.

The problem with the m3u -- more if a nitpick, really -- is that you can't rename your game files without having to edit the information inside cue files too. And as someone who likes to remove clutter from my file names, it's a faster process to convert everything to pbps than to rename bin files, cue files, edit cue files to make sure the track listings match, and then convert to chd.

And then the ease affords me multi-disc support. I don't see a downside. Especially since I already ripped and converted everything into pbps and I really don't feel like doing that shit again just to get chd files, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
But you could do the CHD conversion first, then rename the .chd files and then create .m3us with the new filenames for multi disc games. Personally, I like my filenames in Redump's format, so renaming isn't an issue for me. I used to rename them for games I have hard patched, but now I keep a text file with patch information.

For space savings, it depends on how PSX2PSP compresses audio. I've read it losslessly compresses discs, but I don't think it does anything special with the audio. CHD compresses redbook audio tracks to FLAC, which should end up a bit smaller than compressing the whole disc with whatever compression PBP uses.

But yeah, it's probably not worth switching formats for the small amount of space savings you get if they're already compressed.
 
Mar Tuuk

Mar Tuuk

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,566
I just got an 8bitdo sn30+ pro controller. Any tips for how to best map controls for n64 games on this?

Can I have a different controller profile saved for each console?
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,208
If you use the official Sony Dual Shock 3 drivers, do not, for any reason, have your Dual Shock 3 be the first or only plugged in controller when Retroarch starts. You'll get a soft lock that won't resolve until you unplug the controller.

If you have something like Xbox as player 1 and the DS3 as P2, it'll be fine. DS3 as P1 is bad news.
 
alr1ght

alr1ght

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,047




So for most practical purposes, using the paraLLEl RDP and paraLLEl RSP cores in tandem, the future is now. Accurate N64 emulation is here, it's no longer slow, and it's no longer completely CPU bound either. And you can play it on RetroArch right now, right today. We don't have to wait for a near-accurate representation of an N64, it's already here with us for all practical gameplay purposes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Last edited:
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,619
I was actually wondering about N64 emulation recently, after that Mario 64 PC compiler hit the 'net. I'll have to give this one a whirl.
 
Rufus

Rufus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
402
Germany
The second link has detailed instructions:
  • In RetroArch, go to Online Updater.
  • (If you have paraLLEl N64 already installed) – Select 'Update Installed Cores'. This will update all the cores that you already installed.
  • (If you don't have paraLLEl N64 installed already) – go to 'Core Updater', and select 'Nintendo – Nintendo 64 (paraLLEl N64)'.
  • Now start up a game with this core.
  • Go to the Quick Menu and go to 'Options'. Scroll down the list until you reach 'GFX Plugin'. Set this to 'parallel'. Set 'RSP plugin' to 'parallel' as well.
  • For the changes to take effect, we now need to restart the core. You can either close the game or quit RetroArch and start the game up again.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
AaronMT

AaronMT

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,531
Toronto
Hate asking for support but not sure where else to ask ... anyways, using RetroArch 1.8.7 and am using the ParaLLEL Core 2.0-rc2. I have setup the GFX and RSP plugin to parallel but my sound is incredibly choppy and I'm not sure I'm benefiting from the right configuration here as games not running any faster. I have my video driver set to Vulkan. My system has a GTX 2070 so Vulkan. Any ideas in configuration what might be causing my incredibly choppy audio and other performance things I should toggle?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.