[Download] RetroArch 1.7.7 + other emulators (iOS)

@CoderTonyChan As far as I know, no one ported it to tvOS, but it seems you would need to make a new target, hook up the tvOS specific display and controller as new code, as well as network functions and probably some other things…

But as of now, it works great for iOS on an external display thanks to the WIP commit I added earlier, with a cable, and even with AirPlay from an iPhone or iPad to an Apple TV and other supported devices, even supporting wireless controllers such as the mfi-certified ones!

VuduChilde

Hi, I’m on iPhone X with iOS 12.1.2 using the chimera jailbreak. I’ve tried downloading RetroArch arch through the repo as well as side loading with Cydia imapctor and I can not get any of the cores to work. No matter which core I try or which rom I attempt to load, I always get the “failed to open libretro core” message. What might I be missing?

@VuduChilde I’m trying it right now…

Edit : Ok, as Chimera bootlooped my test iPhone 6, can you tell me if loading one of the included ROMs with it’s respective core actually works ?

BTW : Use Unc0ver when you can, it’s working way better on anything supported, and never bootlooped my devices… My iPhone X is running great with it, yours should be good too!

Damn, that sucks that it bootlooped your test phone. I’ve tried loading the “content” and allowing the program to choose the “ core itself, and I’ve also tried manually chosen the core to try and manually choose the content to load; both produce the same result.

@VuduChilde Ok, some things to note here… On your screenshot, it shows you actually have a core loaded… Which is different from the one on my buildbot ! (Mine is actually Snes9x 1.60 68bf0fe, BTW…)

  • Is this the Cydia Impactor sideloaded RetroArch ?
  • Is it the iOS 10 version and not the iOS 11+ one ?
  • Is this from the older 1.7.5 post ?
  • Is it loading from the wrong buildbot ? (With “Show Advanced Settings” on in Settings > User Interface, check in Settings > Network > Updater that the buildbot URL is the correct /ios-arm64 one… If not, I may have made a mistake while compiling it…)
  • Did you try the ROMs I included in the package ?

Never mind. Tried to re-download the app from the repo and it sent my phone into a bootloop🥺. RiP jailbreak. Time to hit up Android I guess.

@VuduChilde OMG !!! Did you update Sileo first ? It was updating Sileo on my test phone, then I installed RetroArch, then, bootloop…

I think this whole situation is caused by the latest Sileo update, please don’t install RetroArch on Chimera until we see another Sileo update to fix this issue !!!

Edit : Ok, I filed an issue with Sileo and put a warning on the repo… Please use Unc0ver whenever you can, Chimera IS bad…

@Weedy_Weed_Smoker would you possibly still have access to older builds that you have uploaded throughout this thread? I’ve been enjoying your RetroArch builds since around the time you uploaded the May 26th build and was playing PSX games with the BeetlePSX core without any issues on an iPhone XS Max. Since then, over the past couple builds, I’ve noticed decreased framerates and stuttery gameplay with both PSX cores, as well as the Sega CD cores. The only other build I’ve been able to download, aside from your most recently uploaded RetroArch 1.7.7, is a 1.7.5v3 build, which restores the smooth framerates during PSX games.

Thanks for all your hard work - emulating on the go has been a lot of fun.

@illegalmp3 I think it may be related to me activating the setting “Frame Throttle > Sync to Exact Content Framerate” by default, it unlocks 120 FPS capabilities on supported devices, but I plan to disable it in the next upload, as I think it may be affecting performances…

Please try disabling “Sync to Exact Content Framerate” first and tell me if it was the problem (you can leave Vsync on and Frame Throttle off…)

You were right! I disabled “ Sync to Exact Content Framerate”, enabled V-sync and Hard GPU sync, and the stuttering is gone. Thank you!

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I don’t know if it is inappropriate to discuss this here. I use PPSSPP+1.8.0.ipa you built, But my iPhone Xs (12.3.1) will crash once loaded, and the same game will work fine in iPhone 6s plus (11.2.1 jailbreak). Is there any problem with this?

I have same issues.

It seems that these issues are not solved.

Now I find some PRs.

@CoderTonyChan If using the .ipa, you should go to “Settings -> Tools -> Developer tools” and change the CPU core to “Interpreter” if it’s set to “Dynarec (JIT)”…

I have to say that disabling the “Sync to Exact Content Framerate” and enabling v-sync and hard gpu sync is like night and day (testing with Snes9x and FFV). From a jittery mess to smooth as butter. Probably worth some digging into how to maximize performance and still have things this smooth. I’m presuming the message about Hard GPU Sync hurting performance is true of course.

Can I get a confirmation that shaders are broken for everyone else too? They don’t crash anythihng, but they don’t seem to do anything either.

It’s OK on iOS 12 now.But the ‘freezing’ issue is still working. Do you merge that PR on tag 1.9.0?


I try AirPlay on my Apple TV 4K with Nimbus controller.

There are about 500 delays when I pressed button. What about you?

Can retroarch on iOS run ss games? I try the mednafen_saturn_libretro_ios core built by your buildbot with the following rom(/roms/sega-saturn/shining-force-iii-scenario-1). But it can’t load the game?

BIOS should be correct. I already placed sega_101.bin & mpr-17933.bin.

Something wrong with the core or this rom? Plz help me.

The saturn core should be working on iOS. You should at least see the bios screen. Make sure the bios files go into the system directory.

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@sabin RetroArch for iOS does not support scripts in shaders yet, so the most complex shaders and any shader using a script for anything will not load…

@CoderTonyChan I did not compile with this PR yet, but I’d like to test it, the freezing issue is very annoying…

For the Airplay question, I think it may depend on your wi-fi speed, but Airplay wirelessly is indeed prone to lag… You can use the Lighning to HDMI cable for removing the lag ! Then again there’s probably a small lag too when using wireless controllers, but it shouldn’t be too noticeable !

For the ROM not working, it says “Uncorrectable data on sector 0”, and does not work correctly… You should download it from another source…

You are right, this is due to the incorrect location of bios, because it is difficult to put it in the system folder because of using iTunes, so I changed the default bios folder path to “/Documents/BIOS”, the BIOS of PS1 is working well. But SS can’t. Later I used iMazing to put the bios file in the system and it is working well now.

BTW, is there any other software that can easily put bios into “retroarch/system”? iTunes does not support this feature. Finder does not know if it can support this feature on macOS 10.15?

@CoderTonyChan The bioses are all already installed in system, you don’t have to move them manually on any of my releases…

@Weedy_Weed_Smoker I just use the core build by you.Because I need to build tvOS for my Apple TV.

I do not know how to build the core for iOS/tvOS and build with default BIOSes.Is there a tutorial?


BTW, I can’t use the core of the official builtbot download, I have issued an issue, https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/8924, is there a problem with my configuration? The official only distinguishes between iOS and iOS9. Why is your distinction to iOS11?


The current experience is really good, but the modern big game is still a little less, mainly playing retro games. Better big game are concentrated on Wii/3DS (personal taste), but iOS doesn’t support it. The next step to support iOS13, I can use my PS4 controller and Xbox controller, now I can only use Nimbus controller to play alone, I hope that iOS/tvOS retroarch will support PSP/DC soon.

@CoderTonyChan Just use the assets.zip from my ipa to include the bioses…

The official buildbot isn’t up to date and contains only 32-bit cores too, which is not supported on iOS since iOS 10/11…

You can use my buildbot which contains signed cores compiled for 64-bit (iOS 11+) and 64/32-bit (iOS 10)…