RetroArch 0.9.6 Released

[pete_uk]

Today, Twinaphex released the official versions of RetroArch 0.9.6 for PS3 and Xbox 360.

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RETROARCH PS3 - 0.9.6
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RetroConsole Level 2
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Themaister, Squarepusher/Twin Aphex

After over half a year of development (well, slightly more) and lots of preparation work, we can finally present you with RetroArch for PlayStation3.

HOW TO INSTALL THIS
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ON DEBUG PS3: Put the PKG file 'retroarch-ps3-v0.9.6-debug.pkg' on your USB stick, put it in your PS3. Go to the PS3 XMB - go to the Game tab - Select 'Install Packages', and install the PKG file.

ON CFW P3: Put the PKG file 'retroarch-ps3-v0.9.6-cfw.pkg' on your USB stick. Put it in your CFW PS3. Go to the PS3 XMB - go to the Game tab - select 'Install Packages', and install the PKG file.

ON CFW Kmeaw P3: Put the PKG file 'retroarch-ps3-v0.9.6-cfw-kmeaw.pkg' on your USB stick. Put it in your CFW PS3. Go to the PS3 XMB - go to the Game tab - select 'Install Packages', and install the PKG file.

HOW TO USE THIS
---------------

On first startup, RetroArch will select one of the dozen or so emulator/game cores. The name of the core currently loaded will be shown at the top side of the screen.

You can now select a ROM that this core supports and load it in the Filebrowser.

To select a different core in the menu - press Select to go to the Settings screen. From here, go to the 'Retro tab', and select 'Default emulator core'. Press X to go to a filebrowser where you can select a different core. Press X to confirm, then exit RetroArch. Start up again to boot up to the new emulator core.

To change to a different core ingame - press R3 to bring up the 'Quick Menu'. Select 'Change libretro core'. Press X to go to a filebrowser where you can select a different core.

WHAT IS RETROARCH?
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RetroArch is a modular multi-system emulator system that is designed to be fast, lightweight and portable. It has features few other emulator frontends have, such as real-time rewinding and game-aware shading.

WHAT IS LIBRETRO?
-----------------
Libretro is the API that RetroArch uses. It makes it easy to port games and emulators to a single core backend, such as RetroArch.

For the user, this means - more ports to play with, more crossplatform portability, less worrying about developers having to reinvent the wheel writing boilerplate UI/port code - so that they can get busy with writing the emulator/porting the emulator/game.

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
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Right now it's unique in that it runs the same emulator cores on multiple systems (such as Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, etc).

For each emulator 'core', RetroArch makes use of a library API that we like to call 'libretro'.

Think of libretro as an interface for emulator and game ports. You can make a libretro port once and expect the same code to run on all the platforms that RetroArch supports. It's designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind so that the porter can worry about the port at hand instead of having to wrestle with an obfuscatory API.

The purpose of libretro is to help ease the work of the emulator/game porter by giving him an API that allows him to target multiple platforms at once without having to redo any code. He doesn't have to worry about writing input/video/audio drivers - all of that is supplied to him by RetroArch. All he has to do is to have the emulator port hook into the libretro API and that's it - we take care of the rest.

PLAYSTATION3 PORT
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The PS3 port of RetroArch is the most developed of the two right now. It has all the features the standalone PS3 emulators had, with the addition of:

- Game-aware shading in every emulator now (*)
- Real-time rewinding
- More shader features (motion blurring, etc)
- Switching between emulator cores seamlessly, and ability to install new libretro cores

Included with RetroArch PS3 are a bunch of shaders - including the latest versions of the popular xBR shader. It is possible to use two shaders simultaneously to get the best possible graphical look.

* Check out Opium2k's manual shaders for Zelda 3 and others - you can find DLC packs for RetroArch at this site:
https://code.google.com/p/retro-arch/

EMULATOR/GAME CORES GBUNDLED WITH PS3 PORT
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The following emulators have been ported to RetroArch and are included in the first PS3 release of RetroArch:

- Final Burn Alpha (Arcade - various) [version 0.2.97.26]
- FCEUmm (Nintendo Entertainment System) [recent SVN version] (*)
- Gambatte (Game Boy | Super Game Boy | Game Boy Color) [version 0.5.0 WIP]
- Genesis Plus GX (Sega SG-1000 | Master System | Game Gear | Genesis/Mega Drive) [version 1.6.0] (**)
- SNES9x Next (Super Nintendo/Super Famicom)
- VBA Next (Game Boy Advance)
- Prboom (for playing Doom 1/Doom 2/Ultimate Doom/Final Doom)

All of the emulators listed above are the latest versions currently available. Most of them have been specifically optimized so that they will run better on PS3 (some games would not reach fullspeed without these optimizations).

* This port was previously called FCEU Next.
** This port was previously called Genesis Next.

WHAT EXTENSIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY EACH CORE
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- Prboom: WAD|wad
- SNES9x Next: smc|fig|sfc|gd3|gd7|dx2|bsx|swc|zip|SMC|FIG|SFC|BS X|GD3|GD7|DX2|SWC
- Genesis Plus GX: md|smd|bin|gen|zip|MD|SMD|bin|GEN|ZIP|sms|SMS|gg|G G|sg|SG
- VBA Next: GBA|gba
- FCEUmm: nes|NES|unif|UNIF
- Gambatte: gb|gbc|dmg|zip|GB|GBC|DMG|ZIP
- Final Burn Alpha: zip|ZIP

ZIP SUPPORT
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FOR EACH CORE (except for Final Burn Alpha): When you press 'X' on a ZIP file in the File Browser, its contents
will be extracted to the /dev_hdd1/ partition. From there, you can load the ROM and play.

FOR Final Burn Alpha: Selecting a ZIP file from the Filebrowser will load that game directly.

What can you expect in the future?
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- A public release of RetroArch Wii that is on the level of RetroArch PS3/RetroArch 360
- An official Android port of RetroArch (no, no App Store 'fee' - 'free' as in beer AND as in libre)
- Port of NxEngine to libretro - runs Cave Story (PC version is already done, now for the consoles...)
- Port of MAME 0.72 to libretro
- Port of VICE to libretro
- Port of ScummVM to libretro
- More emulators, more games that will run on RetroArch
- Lots of other crazy ideas that might or might not pan out

Credits
-------
- Mudlord for his Waterpaint/Noise shaders.
- Hyllian for the xBR shader.
- Opium2k for the nice manual shaders (bundled with PS3 release).
- Deank for assistance with RetroArch Salamander on CFW PS3s and Multiman interoperability.
- FBA devs for adopting the libretro port.
- Ekeeke for help with the Genesis Plus GX port.

Websites
--------

Twitter: http://twitter.com/libretro
Source: http://github.com/libretro
Homepage: http://www.libretro.org
Opium2K DLC for RetroArch: https://code.google.com/p/retro-arch/

Screenshots of Retro Arch 360/Retro Arch PS3 running with multiple shaders on various cores https://t.co/EGbh1cwq

Downloads

PS3 (FBA 0.2.97.26, SNES9x Next, VBA Next, FCEUmm, Gambatte, Genesis Plus GX, and prBoom)

KMEAW CFW PS3- https://anonfiles.com/file/30a5c6e73...e79efacb5e15b7
GEOHOT CFW PS3 - https://anonfiles.com/file/faaeb5a9c...fd5d1949416010
DEBUG PS3 - https://anonfiles.com/file/576351f31...3cf6911827a62e

XBOX 360 (FBA 0.2.97.26, SNES9x Next, VBA Next, FCEUmm, Gambatte, and prBoom)

https://anonfiles.com/file/e1bceaee7...c409d8b0cd97ca

[smt7]

Hi, i just wanted to know if anyone has compiled the latest version of retroarch for ps3, now that it seems past the RC1 version.
Sorry for my english, i tried to compile it, but i don´t know how.

[Twinaphex]

The 360 and PS3 ports were released today by me. You can find download links at xbins.org. Some news sites have started posting the news too.

[Ploggy]

Twin! thanks mate looking now

[smt7]

Thank you very much Twinaphex, but i have a little question, what version should install if i have TB CFW? it is considered a part of Kmeaw or not?
And another thing, twinaphex=themaister=squarepusher?

[Ploggy]

Squarepusher/Twinaphex = same, Themaister = another dude

[smt7]

Squarepusher/Twinaphex = same, Themaister = another dude

I was thinking he was going for his 3rd name , anyways the future seems exciting for the ps3 with mame0.72 among other things.

[Ploggy]

I cant wait for Genplus to be added to Retroarch, especially since Mega cd support is in the works

Well I just gave Retroarch a quick blast (360 version) and I have to say it plays really well. Well done Twinaphex and Themaister Super Smashing Great!

[Twinaphex]

I cant wait for Genplus to be added to Retroarch, especially since Mega cd support is in the works

Well I just gave Retroarch a quick blast (360 version) and I have to say it plays really well. Well done Twinaphex and Themaister Super Smashing Great!

The reason Genesis Plus GX is not in the RetroArch 360 release is because the sound is FUBAR on 360 - I've ran it through the original author of Genesis Plus GX (ekeeke) and he didn't know what could be causing it - I haven't figured it out yet either - but whatever it is - this only happens with the 360 MSVC compiler - a really weird problem.

Anyway - long story short - it's not in because people will obviously start to bitch if it were to be included and audio sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Hopefully we can fix it - I think Yoshihiro at one point fixed it in his (old by now) Genesis360 port, but he never released the source so we don't know what got changed.

[STLcardsWS]

Thanks Twinaphex ..

Big fan of your work!!!

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Uploading the download now, will add to my emu list soon..

I tested alot of doom wads and mods..

prBoom (Playable Wads tested )
--Doom
--Doom2
--TNT
--Plutonia
--Chex Quest
--Ultimate FreeDoom (Playable from Ep. #2, will crash on Ep. #1)
--Doom3: Mr. Smiley Head's Safari
--Duke Nukem Total Conv. for Doom2
--Goldeneye 007 Total Conv.

These are all playable..didnt test the whole games but they seem okay..
Goldeneye is fun could be more playable..


Update:
Here is the Download (ALL PKGS) just pick your setup and install