Goosestation - Build Your Own Duckstation-libretro

[DemitryCzarevich]

@hueponik

Hm, it’s not crashing or anything is it?

No, it doesn’t crash - at least not right away - if you repeat the process: “Load Core” - “Load Content” - “Close Content” - since the core isn’t unloaded or closed until the BIOS has fully loaded - “Load Content” (another game) - “Close Content” - repeat 3 times; after that, the entire RetroArch crashes (this may be specific to my hardware; you can try repeating this experiment. I’m considering it solely from a testing perspective, not as a real-world usage scenario).

@hueponik

I think this is “by design”. I wanted to add the mode where you can just boot bios without the game.

Yeah, and it works great! Thanks for this feature - I love sometimes listening to tracks from the game on CD-player

@hueponik

So you load the core. Then you can either load the game with it or just boot it. Then if you close content, you don’t close the core… You can also use “unload core” button to actually unload the core.

The “Unload Core” button is only available if the core is not running; if the core is already running and has loaded into the BIOS, the “Unload Core” button is not displayed.

@hueponik

What’s your usage scenario that is ruined by this logic?

As I mentioned earlier, I sometimes download new game images and run them to test their functionality. After that, I usually rename the image according to my naming convention (title, region, game serial number, language, country of release), find the corresponding box art, and then add the game to my PlayStation playlist and link the appropriate core to it. But sometimes I don’t have time to neatly organize a new game in the playlist, so I just settle for a quick check to see if the image works. In those cases, I use this scenario: “Load Core” - “Load Content” - wait for all the opening intros to play, start the game until the character appears - “Close Content.” In this scenario, the Beetle PSX HW and SwanStation cores close the content but do not unload the core or boot the BIOS, unlike GooseStation. Sometimes I want to test a game with a different core (by default, all games from my PlayStation playlist open using the Beetle PSX HW core); in such cases, I also prefer to use the scenario “Load Core” - “Load Content” - to check the aspects of the game that interest me using the current core settings - “Close Content,” rather than reassigning the core in the playlist, and then reverting to the default core after testing and experimentation.

During my experiments, I tested a scenario where, conversely, we first select “Load Content” and then choose a core for that content - with this sequence of actions, closing the content while using the GooseStation core does not trigger a subsequent boot into the BIOS, and both the content and the core are completely unloaded. I guess I just need to get used to this specific sequence of actions

[hueponik]

For you, when you do “close content” it boots into bios automatically?.. Couldn’t reproduce this

[DemitryCzarevich]

Yes, that’s exactly right.
I tried creating a clean installation of the RetroArch nightly build with all default settings, copied the core and info files to the appropriate folders, loaded and launched the core in BIOS to select the Vulkan renderer and increase the resolution, without any additional core settings (PGXP, Audio, Display, etc.), restarted RetroArch completely to apply the settings, and followed the sequence “Load Core” – “Load Content” – wait for all the opening intros to play, start the game until the character appears – “Close Content.” Even in this case, with all default settings, after closing the content, I am booted back into the PSX BIOS.

[petran791]

Regarding game compatibility, Duckstation and Goosestation are the only ones that do not freeze in Slayers Royal 2 in the beginning, during Naga’s sleeping spell. This was a known bug in the 2000s emulators but a few years ago when I tried psx beetle, it also had it. Few years ago Duckstation had it as well. Issue is not present in Saturn version

[DemitryCzarevich]

How long has it been since you updated the Beetle PSX (HW) core?
Over the past two months, they’ve done a major refactoring and fixed issues that hadn’t been working for a long time (based on my personal observation, the game “Roswell Conspiracies - Aliens Myths Legends” now plays sound in certain locations - this wasn’t the case before, and this fix was implemented just last week), I’m by no means downplaying the achievements of the Goosestation core, and in most cases it’s much more functional than other PSX cores - except that you have to build it yourself due to licensing issues. I always try to test the same game on all available PSX cores to determine which one produces the best-looking graphics for me and doesn’t have any significant gameplay issues caused by emulation.

[DaveTheMan1985]

@DemitryCzarevich

How long has it been since you updated the Beetle PSX (HW) core?

I have not Followed so when did they last update the Beetle PSX Cores?

Though I agree that need to be good as not everyone would know how to Build It and Not even know about it as not Offical

[DemitryCzarevich]

@DaveTheMan1985

I have not Followed so when did they last update the Beetle PSX Cores?

The Beetle PSX Cores were last updated on June 14, 2026.
I’m keeping track of the changes at this link:

Commits · libretro/beetle-psx-libretro

(My apologies to @hueponik for this slight off-topic)

[petran791]

Tried the game with Beetle and it still freezes, while music continues playing. Does not happen on Duckstation. You start the game, talk to specific guy and pick the top right spot on the map where Naga meets you. She casts few spells, you hit her a few times and when she tries to cast her final spell that will backfire and put her to sleep, thus ending the fight, game freezes. I remember this bug happening both on epsxe and psx back then. Seems it has not been resolved

[DemitryCzarevich]

Yes, I agree - there are games that won’t run on one core and won’t even launch, but run perfectly on another without any issues. It’s great that we now have one more core available thanks to @hueponik’s efforts.

[hueponik]

Hi all @DemitryCzarevich sorry I couldn’t reproduce your issue with bios load after game close, I’ll take another look later. I’ll spend some time this later, was too busy with below:…

[hueponik]

Goosestation 0.6.5 with skip engine

https://youtu.be/KO29LtFPhYE

What do achievements, cheats and doors have in common? Goosestation. Because it now has SKIP ENGINE!

Are you tired of seeing Resident Evil doors? Slow memory card reading screens, or just normal slow loading screens? Get the feels-like-cartrtidge-based-psx feeling with SKIP ENGINE.

• Skips any cd reading segments
• Skips memory card activity

Know a part of the game you’d like to skip? Enter the Skip Trainer: add your own skip rules by training the engine. And, erm… you have to, as for now only 3 games have rules configured:

• Resident Evil - Director’s Cut - Dual Shock Ver.
• Resident Evil 2 - Dual Shock Ver. (Disc 1)
• Wipeout XL

Training engine is based on rcheevos for detecting skippable parts, and scanner works similarly to cheat diggers to find skip triggers. More info on how to train your skip engine: https://codeberg.org/hueponik/goosestation-builder/src/tag/v0.6.5.11443/SKIP_TRAINER.md

New option is available in Core Options -> Skip Engine/Trainer

If you find good solid skip rules, feel free to open a pull request https://codeberg.org/hueponik/goosestation-builder/pulls

[baryn]

I didn’t think PS1 emulation could be improved any further, but here we are!! Thank you.