A new software update is available, would you like to update now? No, not for one of your consoles, but for RetroArch! The first new version of the year, in fact. RetroArch v1.8.3 has just been released, and this version makes some major additions to our favorite emulator frontend. The most notable new feature in 1.8.3 is ANGLE support, which helps platforms that don't have good OpenGL core support get better performance, by converting OpenGL to Direct3D. ANGLE is available for two platforms initially: UWP (Xbox One) and Windows 64bit. This will help out users that have older integrated graphics cards or use RetroArch on the Xbox One.

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• For the regular Windows version, there are two binaries from now on – one with ANGLE (retroarch_angle.exe), one without (retroarch.exe). The non-ANGLE version will use your system-provided OpenGL driver, while the ANGLE version will use the ANGLE version of the OpenGL dynamic libraries.
• ANGLE works over OpenGL ES. This means that ANGLE requires separately compiled cores targeting OpenGL ES 2/3 instead of desktop OpenGL. What this means is that 1) you need separate cores for every Libretro OpenGL core you want to run, since the current OpenGL cores available for Windows assume that desktop OpenGL will be targeted, and 2) a libretro core has to have a working OpenGL ES 2 or 3 implementation in order for it to work. This will mean that currently, cores like Quake 2/3/Doom 3 won’t work since there are no working OpenGL ES 2 codepaths in those cores. However, Mupen64plus Next and Flycast do have OpenGLES 2 codepaths.

That's not the only improvement, though! Netplay has also gotten some lovely fixes and refinements. A major bug that had plagued netplay users--disconnecting all players from a server when one player quits the game--has been solved, after a year. A memory leak has also been patched out, meaning netplay should just be more stable, overall.

You can see the changes for yourself, by grabbing the latest version of RetroArch from the Libretro site, linked in the source.

Changes
1.8.3

• ANDROID/BUGFIX: Fix ‘Install or Restore Core’ regression
• BUGFIX: Ensure core info is always initialised when calling ‘drivers_init()’. This bug could prevent cores from doing content runtime logging
• BUGFIX/MENU: History size can only be set to 1 at a minimum
• BUGFIX/MENU: (XMB/OZONE) Fix ‘quick menu’ detection. XMB would not display savestate thumbnails in the quick menu if it was accessed via the main menu
• BUGFIX/CRASH/CORE UPDATER: Fix potential double free error
• BUGFIX/CRASH/OPENGL/WINDOWS: Fix regression in 1.8.2 that would cause GL-based cores to fail because it would try to erroneously load libGLESv2.dll instead of OpenGL32.dll (cores affected: VitaQuake 2/3/Dhewm3, possibly more)
• BUGFIX/MENU/DESKTOP UI: Show desktop menu on startup does not launch Qt UI on Linux
• CHEEVOS: Don’t disable achievement when AddAddress generates an out-of-range address
• CHEEVOS: Don’t reset triggers/leaderboards that failed to load
• CHEEVOS: Don’t count unsupported achievements as unlocked
• CORE UPDATER: Display number of cores updated when updating installed cores
• DINGUX: Initial port
• D3D11: Block FL9_3 devices from D3D11 driver because they don’t work anyway (current D3D11 driver uses SM4.0 which requires FL10_0 and up)
• D3D11: Fallback to GL driver when D3D11 fails
• EMSCRIPTEN: Fix assets
• HISTORY/FAVORITES: Bump up default to 200 entries from 100
• FFMPEG CORE: Implement packet buffer, fixes MP4 video playback for many files
• LOCALIZATION: Update Italian translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Polish translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Russian translation
• LOCALIZATION: Update Spanish translation
• MENU: Added ‘Hosting’ menu under Netplay menu
• MENU: Added ‘Subsystems’ menu
• MENU/FILEBROWSER: Fix file selection issues when starting from (or navigating to) the top level directory
• MENU/WIDGETS: Prevent looping of task title text
• RASPBERRY PI: Fix BGRA8888 color inversion issues in the menu and elsewhere with VideoCore GL drivers
• NETPLAY/RELAY: Add Sao Paulo (Brazil) relay server
• NETPLAY/RELAY: Fix the “spectator” bug when using the relay server – When a player switches into the spectator mode (pressing “i”) while using the relay server, all players will disconnect.
• NETPLAY/RELAY: Overall stability has improved. Fixed a memory leak that would cause the relay server to become unresponsive after some time
• NETPLAY/RELAY: Fixed critical bug that would cause all players to be disconnected from the relay server if one player was leaving the game. That bug had been open for one year and we were finally able to fix it
• SWITCH/LIBNX/BUGFIX: Fix onscreen keyboard input regression
• UWP: Add ANGLE support
• UWP: Wire up get_metrics to the fake context of D3D9/10/11/12 driver, enabling proper scaling and mouse/touch gestures
• VITA: Re-add Online Updater
• VULKAN: Fix font driver ‘vulkan_get_message_width()’ function
• VIDEO FILTERS: Only use threads when the number exceeds 1. Fixes race conditions with some CPU filters on Vita
• WINDOWS: Add ANGLE support for x64, separate binary (for now?)

Source

 

[ChibiMofo]

I think it's about time I started checking out Retroarch, Thanks for the update!

 

[KarlslandOtaku]

Nice! Time to use it on my GPD Win 2 I guess.

 

[Wolfy]

Still haven't really touched Retroarch other than on my Switch, since I normally have no problem downloading each emulator separately.

All the same nice update!

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Just what I needed. A new ANGLE of appreciation for retroarch.

Seriously though, who comes up with these names? OpenGL, Vulkan, ANGLE? How are common people supposed to be interested with what people are talking about when you have names like this?

 

[NoNAND]

So basically this update is irrelevant to the switch and other mobile ports of retroarch.
Side note.
I'm actually kind of impressed that old GPJs can gain a speedup thanks to this nifty feature.

 

[Alex5566]

Can't wait to download!!!

 

[JuanMena]

In December 2018 I downloaded Retroarch for the first time.
I hooked up my Lap to my 43" LG 4K Smart TV and began to play good old classics big time, no issues, no slowdowns, no input-lag.

Somewhere around 2019 I updated the version of Retroarch and playing in my Smart TV won't work at all, it's slow as hell.

I'll try with this version to see if that problem is fixed.

 

[FancyNintendoGamer567]

Might give RA's ANGLE thing a go.

 

[Jayro]

So does this mean emulators will work even better on the Pi 4 now than they already do?

 

[Pickle_Rick]

OOOooh, I'll have to try this on my Xbox One S. I wonder how N64 runs. PS1 was already full speed before this.

 

[YukidaruPunch]

Retroarch is the gift that keeps on giving. I have no idea how they do any of this, but I'm so glad they do it.

Best thing that's happened to retro gaming in the last few years. It's outstanding.

 

[Bravestarr]

RetroArch is the reason why everybody should own a hacked switch



Can someone confirm that the latest flycast polygon fixes for Soul Calibur are included in 1.8.3?

 

[Smoker1]

Where do you place the Doom 3 Files?????

 

[MadMax4Q2]

• CHEEVOS: Don’t disable achievement when AddAddress generates an out-of-range address
• CHEEVOS: Don’t reset triggers/leaderboards that failed to load
• CHEEVOS: Don’t count unsupported achievements as unlocked
• CORE UPDATER: Display number of cores updated when updating installed cores

Hope this means that on the Wiiu the Genesis Gx core cheevos now trigger property

 

[Stwert]

So does this mean emulators will work even better on the Pi 4 now than they already do?

Probably not quite yet as Angle is X64 and UWP at the moment. But, potentially, when they get around to it, it could make a difference.

Not that I’m disappointed at the moment, I’m running Lakka in my Pi 4 for my Arcade 1UP conversion and it’s running everything I need brilliantly. Even with an older version of Retroarch.

 

[Jayro]

Probably not quite yet as Angle is X64 and UWP at the moment. But, potentially, when they get around to it, it could make a difference.

Not that I’m disappointed at the moment, I’m running Lakka in my Pi 4 for my Arcade 1UP conversion and it’s running everything I need brilliantly. Even with an older version of Retroarch.

Yeah, the Supreme betas are truly amazing builds.

 

[Mythical]

In December 2018 I downloaded Retroarch for the first time.
I hooked up my Lap to my 43" LG 4K Smart TV and began to play good old classics big time, no issues, no slowdowns, no input-lag.

Somewhere around 2019 I updated the version of Retroarch and playing in my Smart TV won't work at all, it's slow as hell.

I'll try with this version to see if that problem is fixed.

Try Only showing one screen instead of mirroring/screen extention

 

[JuanMena]

Try Only showing one screen instead of mirroring/screen extention

Yes, that works. But I can't get Fullscreen on my TV. It keeps the Title Bar as well as the Taskbar and the mouse pointer.

 

[Stwert]

Yeah, the Supreme betas are truly amazing builds.

Yup, there are some very nice options out there. But if I'm honest, especially for the cab conversion, I like the official Lakka build, I've never been all that keen on the ES frontends, too messy for me and there's a load of crap I'm not interested in. So at the end of the day, Lakka is clean, functional, simple and effective, does the job for me.