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Today Squarepusher has released what he calls PS3 RetroArch v0.9.6, a homebrew multi-system video game emulator for the PlayStation 3 entertainment system which runs on PS3 Custom FirmWare and Debug consoles!
Download:
PS3 RetroArch PS3 v0.9.6 For CFW Kmeaw PS3 (18.02MB)
PS3 RetroArch PS3 v0.9.6 For CFW PS3 (18.02MB)
PS3 RetroArch PS3 v0.9.6 For Debug PS3 (69.00MB)
SVN
File Names:
PS3 RetroArch.PS3.v0.9.6.FOR.CFW.KMEAW.PS3
PS3 RetroArch.PS3.v0.9.6.FOR.CFW.PS3
PS3 RetroArch.PS3.v0.9.6.FOR.DEBUG.PS3
To quote: Here is the release of RetroArch PS3 - a multi-system emulator/game system. Expect a lot more from us in the coming months. Included in this package are the following emulators/game engines:
SNES9x Next (Super Nintendo)
FCEUmm (Nintendo NES)
Final Burn Alpha (0.2.97.26 - latest version - arcade)
Gambatte (Game Boy/Game Boy Color)
Genesis Plus GX (Sega Genesis/Sega Master System/Sega Game Gear)
VBA Next (Game Boy Advance)
PrBoom (Doom 1/Doom 2/Ultimate Doom/Final Doom)
RETROARCH PS3 - 0.9.6
RetroConsole Level 2
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 PlayStation 3.
HOW TO INSTALL THIS
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.
IN GAME CONTROLS
During in game operation you can do some extra actions:
Right Thumb Stick - Down - Fast-forwards the game
Right Thumb Stick - Up - Rewinds the game in real-time
('Rewind' has to be enabled in the 'Settings' screen - warning - comes at a slight performance decrease but will be worth it if you love this feature)
RStick Left + R2 - Decrease save state slot
Rtick Right + R2 - Increase save state slot
RStick Up + R2 - Load selected save state slot
RStick Down + R2 - Save selected save state slot
L3 + R3 - Go back to 'Menu'/'Quick Menu'
WHAT IS RETROARCH?
RetroArch is a modular multi-system emulator system that is designed to be fast, lightweight and portable. It has features few other emulator front-ends 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 cross-platform 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?
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.
PLAYSTATION 3 PORT
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.
EMULATOR/GAME CORES GBUNDLED WITH PS3 PORT
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 full speed without these optimizations).
* This port was previously called FCEU Next.
** This port was previously called Genesis Next.
WHAT EXTENSIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY EACH CORE
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
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?
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
Source
Homepage
Opium2K DLC for RetroArch
IRC: #retroarch (freenode)
Download:
PS3 RetroArch PS3 v0.9.6 For CFW Kmeaw PS3 (18.02MB)
PS3 RetroArch PS3 v0.9.6 For CFW PS3 (18.02MB)
PS3 RetroArch PS3 v0.9.6 For Debug PS3 (69.00MB)
SVN
File Names:
PS3 RetroArch.PS3.v0.9.6.FOR.CFW.KMEAW.PS3
PS3 RetroArch.PS3.v0.9.6.FOR.CFW.PS3
PS3 RetroArch.PS3.v0.9.6.FOR.DEBUG.PS3
To quote: Here is the release of RetroArch PS3 - a multi-system emulator/game system. Expect a lot more from us in the coming months. Included in this package are the following emulators/game engines:
SNES9x Next (Super Nintendo)
FCEUmm (Nintendo NES)
Final Burn Alpha (0.2.97.26 - latest version - arcade)
Gambatte (Game Boy/Game Boy Color)
Genesis Plus GX (Sega Genesis/Sega Master System/Sega Game Gear)
VBA Next (Game Boy Advance)
PrBoom (Doom 1/Doom 2/Ultimate Doom/Final Doom)
RETROARCH PS3 - 0.9.6
RetroConsole Level 2
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 PlayStation 3.
HOW TO INSTALL THIS
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.
IN GAME CONTROLS
During in game operation you can do some extra actions:
Right Thumb Stick - Down - Fast-forwards the game
Right Thumb Stick - Up - Rewinds the game in real-time
('Rewind' has to be enabled in the 'Settings' screen - warning - comes at a slight performance decrease but will be worth it if you love this feature)
RStick Left + R2 - Decrease save state slot
Rtick Right + R2 - Increase save state slot
RStick Up + R2 - Load selected save state slot
RStick Down + R2 - Save selected save state slot
L3 + R3 - Go back to 'Menu'/'Quick Menu'
WHAT IS RETROARCH?
RetroArch is a modular multi-system emulator system that is designed to be fast, lightweight and portable. It has features few other emulator front-ends 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 cross-platform 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?
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.
PLAYSTATION 3 PORT
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.
EMULATOR/GAME CORES GBUNDLED WITH PS3 PORT
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 full speed without these optimizations).
* This port was previously called FCEU Next.
** This port was previously called Genesis Next.
WHAT EXTENSIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY EACH CORE
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
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?
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
Source
Homepage
Opium2K DLC for RetroArch
IRC: #retroarch (freenode)
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