Core into APK?

RetroArch Android devices
#1

Is it possible to compile a Core into a standalone APK?

Sorry if I’m asking something really stupid - but I’m new to the whole “Android emulation” thing.

I ask, because I couldn’t find a decent Odyssey2 emulator (The only one available VPacAPP, is very slow and crashes a lot on my Android mini-pc), but I could find this core for RetroArch:

https://github.com/libretro/libretro-o2em

I managed to compile it (I have the Android NDK installed), but all it creates is a bunch of “libretro.so” - so now I’m lost :frowning:

I’m asking about a standalone APK, because I’m making my own front-end for emulators (already have it working for SNES/NES/GBA/Mega Drive and Atari…), and would love to include an Odyssey2 emulator in the mix (as it was my first video-game ever!)

Any help appreciated, thanks!

#2

Cores are just that… cores. They are useless without a frontend Why not grab the latest nightly at buildbot.libretro.com, go into core manager and download the core you want

#3

Because Retroarch is way too slow in general for my Android device. Also, I couldn’t get the latest build to run. I’m stuck at a “press OK/Accept” screen after loading a core/content - and nothing I do work.

Plus, I just need an Odyssey2 emulator…

#4

With the current one you only download the cores you want. You just need to set a gamepad overlay to press A to accept

#5

I think the build from 18-01-2015 is broken - I downloaded the one from 13-01-2015 and I got to the odyssey boot. But couldn’t start (or even exit) the emulator.

#6

I just tried the current nightly with the dosbox core and it works perfect so no idea of your issue

#7

Something seems seriously broken. I installed the fmsx core and the o2em core.

Started O2Em… locked at the “Select game” screen. (Yes, I pointed RetroArch to the BIOS). Then, I uninstalled O2Em core, selected fMSX core, selected a MSX game, started RetroArch… and still locked up at the select game screen from O2Em!

#8

I’ve managed to run the O2EM core - with the build from 2015-01-17.

Only one problem though: It doesn’t seem to respond to any movement or button press on a real (Xbox360) joystick. And to start the game, I need a virtual keyboard on screen (since it doesn’t respond to a real keyboard either… and Odyssey2 Games starts by pressing a number from 0 to 9 to select difficult level).

Bottom line: I can see the games running (and they are running fine - just sound that is not that great), but I can’t play any of them :frowning:

#9

I now managed to run O2Em, with Google Play Store APK. If I just connect the xbox360 controller (no keyboard or mouse, otherwise it won’t work), the system finds it and if I keep a keyboard overlay on screen, I can use a mouse to tap the “1” button to start a game, then use the D-PAD to move around and button B to shoot.

But, I still have two thigs that I need:

  1. Some way to start the game with the joystick. Can I map any button to simulate “1” or “0” or “2” being pressed?

  2. Some way to quit the emulator with the joystick. I tried setting on retroarch.cfg input_exit_emulator_btn = 110 input_enable_hotkey_btn = 1

    But that didn’t have any effect. I even tried other values for exit_emulator - but nothing works :frowning:

#10

1 No I don’t think you can map joypad buttons to keyboard 2 It works, at least in windows, hotkey is a modifier, so actions of hotkeys (exit, menu, load, save) only happen when HOTKEY is pressed

#11

I actually recompiled O2EM core, altering joystick_data from joystick_data[2][5] to joystick_data[2][12], set:

joystick_data[1][10]= input_state_cb(0, RETRO_DEVICE_JOYPAD, 0, RETRO_DEVICE_ID_JOYPAD_L2);

And mapped L2 to BUTTON_MODE on the RetroArch interface. Added this on update_input():

	if (joystick_data[0][10]) 
	{
		key_done = 1;
		close_audio();
		close_voice();
		close_display();
		
	}

And now, when I press the big (X) button on my 360 controller, I can quit O2EM!

Just need to know now what to alter in the O2EM Core so if I press a key (Select, Start, X,Y, whatever) if will be the same as pressing “0”, “1” or “2” in the emulated O2EM…

#12

Now I’m having the strangest problems of all.

I can run the O2EM build I’ve made fine from Retroarch. I can play it as many times as I want, without any issues.

I can also start the emulator, from the terminal with the following command line: (with root / “su”) am start -e ROM “<rom>” -e LIBRETRO /data/user/0/com.retroarch/cores/ODYSSEY.so -n com.retroarch/.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture -e CONFIGGILE /data/user/0/com.retroarch/ODYSSEY.cfg

This works most of the time - but sometimes, it won’t respond to the joystick.

Now the worst of all: from within my emulator, 99% of the time it locks up showing only “loading <rom_name>”. But every once in a while, it loads one game. This is the code I’m using to launch all emulators, not only RetroArch/O2EM, and that it is working fine for everything else:

String[] str ={"su","-c",cmd};
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(str);
    p.waitFor();

And “cmd” is the exact same command I typed in the terminal. Most of the time, it locks in the “loading” screen, doesn’t even show the “Select Screen” from Odyssey. Once in a while it shows, and when it shows, only once in a while I can play it.

I’m completely stumped by what is going on with this. Can someone help me out? Please? Pretty Please??

#13

I just made it. Had to actually create an intent and start a new activity, instead of starting a new process. Then, it worked.

#14

Glad you got it figured out. Sorry I/we couldn’t be more helpful.