FreeJ2me fork with ready to use cores

[Jamirus]

The original core had to be compiled, there are ready to use dll/so files for Win/Linux available here from this fork:

Releases · AShiningRay/freej2me

I had the original working under Linux, this one I just tested under Windows 10, works (after installing java).

[Broski86]

No luck here loading content with the core

I’m able to load the core itself (says version 1.2). In ‘core information’ it says it found the freej2me-lr.jar file correctly but when I try to load .jar file/game I only get a popup error windows that says:

‘Java Virtual Machine Launcher - Error: Unable to Access jarfile’

I do have Java 8 installed and I can open and play jar games with the “standalone” freej2me.

edit: Okay, found the problem. Apparently, the core didn’t like my folder’s name (“RetroArch 1.17.0”) so I made a new folder called “RetroArch_Aux” (no spaces) next to “RetroArch 1.17.0” and added the line:

system_directory = “D:\RetroArch_Aux\system”

to ‘FreeJ2ME.cfg’ then placed freej2me-lr.jar in it. I didn’t want to risk just renaming the folder as a few cores will use full, absolute path names in rare cases for some stuff. And well, now it works.

[AdikRahman]

Thank you sooo much for pointing this out!

I was never able to build a working version on windows 10 before this!

Installed the latest version of Java (Java 8 Update 411). Then from this page (https://github.com/AShiningRay/freej2me/releases) downloaded and copied the “freej2me_libretro.dll” to the “cores” folder and “freej2me-lr.jar” to the “system” folder. Then loaded the game “jar” files from RA “Load Content” and the games run nicely!

By combining the best features of RA such as, per game/core configs, controller support & mappings, and shaders support, this makes the J2me games experience so much better!

But one issue I have is that, when I go into the menu the games don’t pause. Even when I quit RA, the background music keeps running and I have to force close the “Java™ Platform SE binary” task from task manager to stop the games.

Have you faced any similar issues?

[Jamirus]

Yes, I also have this issue. I don’t recall having this with Linux, but it’s just a minor annoyance I guess.

[Broski86]

Yeah, same issue here as well. I have to Alt+CTLR+Delete and close the process manually as it doesn’t close on itself when closing RA.

Other than that there are few games that have sound issues (or no sound at all) that aren’t present in standalone.

Doom II RPG seem very unstable if you leave the sound on (crawls in certain part and even random crashes) but they disappear if you disable sound in the game at start up.

Other games plays fine without issues:

So, overall I’d say that while the core as it is currently is not perfect it’s very much usable.

[SuperGamer18]

I know this core isn’t meant for Android but it doesn’t work there… (I used the .so file for Linux)

[raidenii]

Hi - I’m necromancing this thread, but now there is a fork of FreeJ2ME actively developed at https://github.com/TASEmulators/freej2me-plus, with more games supported and better quality in emulation.

Nightly builds of both JARs and Libretro cores can be found in the Actions -> Artifacts, or through nightly.link.

[Evilman]

I’ve been using this core since a week or so - simply great.

I don’t know why it’s not available from Libretro / The buildbot and SquirrelJME is. SJME has been available since at least six years and can’t load a thing, there was no reason to make it available to download even if it’s being worked on… And to be honest, I don’t believe it will have significant things to put on the table compared to FJ2ME-plus, it’s just really late.

[Starman99x]

Thank you for sharing this! I hope we’ll see more Java phone bezels by the community in the future.

For now I made these presets for koko-aio and MBZ:

The quality of these screenshots is heavily compressed.

[Duimon]

@Starman99x

I hope we’ll see more Java phone bezels by the community in the future.

I’ll add a couple of phones to my list after I do some R&D. No ETA, but I like to make new cores a priority.

[Starman99x]

There’s also a new core for Tamagotchi P1 and a new DICE port. Both available in the online updater.

[Duimon]

@Starman99x

new DICE port

I have been hoping for that one for years now. I’ll need to check that out ASAP.

I haven’t been doing much with graphics lately.

I had to start wearing glasses the year I turned 43. (Mostly just to drive.)

In the last year or so the vison in my right eye has deteriorated quite a bit and I am having a hard time focusing on the parameter details in Adobe Illustrator.

I have some new glasses arriving on or about the 31st. (Including a pair just for being in front of the computer.)

I am eager to get busy with a few on hold and new projects.

[Duimon]

@Starman99x

new DICE port

I update my core info files and didn’t see anything about DICE in the online updater.

[hunterk]

It’s not available on the online updater yet, but you can visit the repo for it here: https://github.com/mittonk/dice-libretro

[Starman99x]

I’m sorry to hear about your eye condition.

I think some new cores show up for me in the Online Updater because I have the show experimental cores option turned ON.

[Duimon]

@Starman99x

eye condition

No condition really. Just poor eyesight that came on late in life.

[Duimon]

@hunterk

but you can visit the repo for it here

Thank you sir!

This core works like a dream! I’ll probably do a variation of my “Arcade” graphic for it… in a generic PONG-ish style.

[p3st]

now need a razer overlay and i can play the gothic 3 flipphone game again

[hunterk]

I made one a loooong time ago that’s included in the overlays bundle that comes with RetroArch. It’s called flip-phone:

[Broski86]

The newer j2me-plus core is awesome.

Right now AShiningRay, the core’s author, is trying to integrate the external freej2me-lr.jar file into the core itself and ideally at some point, not require for the user to have java installed at all on their system. Eventually, the core might be made available through the normal core updater.

Note if you want to try the core, it’s important to get both the latest core and the latest jar version (which you put in the system folder). If you just update the core and are using an older build of the freej2me-lr.jar file, things probably won’t work correctly or at all.

You can download the latest build in the ‘Links’ of this page. So get both the core and the jar.

Played through Doom II RPG with no issues (use to be prone to random crashes during certain parts with the old freej2me core)

At one point got soft locked during the first VIOS encounter. He seem to have left the room and I couldn’t exit the computer where you’re supposed to fight him. I tried recreating the bug many times but no luck. So my guess is this was a rare edge-case soft lock bug that probably could (rarely) happened on hardware as well.

edit: Oh yeah I forgot: You might need to enable the ‘Game FPS Limit’ in the core’s options, as some games might play too fast without it. For example, the movement of your character in D2RPG was too rapid without it (making it prone to sometimes lose a turn needlessly) until I set the limit to 60fps which fixed the problem.