JIT (dynarec) and RA on 7.1.x jailbreak

RetroArch Apple devices
#1

I’ve jailbroken an iPhone 4s (on 7.1.1) and my iPhone 5s (on 7.1.2) with the new jailbreak (pangu) and conducted a few tests revolving around a few different emulators. Here are my findings regarding the latest version of retroarch:

On the iPhone 4s (A5 32bit device on 7.1.1): No issues. Performed just the same as if it was jailbroken on 7.0.6 or lower. I didn’t have any issues regarding btstack, and I paired and set up two controllers during my testing. I mainly tested the gba, snes, and psx core. Gba cores performed just as they would before, which isn’t really all that favorable on a 4s. Snes played great, played a few multiplayer games with another person. Psx core played just as good as it did before as well, even played a few multiplayer sessions and it performed as expected on a 4s/plus what game is being played. So in short, no btstack issues and dynarec seemed to be working with no issues. PS3 controllers paired up just fine in other emulators too.

On the iPhone 5s (A7 64bit device on 7.1.2): First tried pairing a ps3 controller to retroarch. Didn’t work. Nothing. Then again, even on 7.0.x, retroarch still has consistency issues on 64bit devices when it comes to btstack and pairing ps3 controllers. Tried a few more times, again nothing. I thought maybe there was an issue with btstack on 7.1.x and 64bit devices, so I tried pairing a ps3 controller in other emulators. It paired with no problems on other emulators and played with no issues. So it’s safe to assume that the issue resides with retroarch itself on 64bit devices and 7.1.x firmwares, not surprising since it’s still not perfect on 7.0.x with A7 devices. So I decided to use the touchscreen and fire up some games. I tested gba and ps1 games. I had no issues playing gba games. Settings and shaders saved just fine as well. However, when it comes to the psx rearmed core, retroarch crashed every time I tried loading a game. I read some topics of other users having the same issue and a dev suggested that perhaps dynarec wasn’t working on the new jailbreak. So I went to test this next in ppsspp on my 5s. Used default settings and played soulcalibur broken destiny. I made sure the jit toggle was enabled during my first run, played just as great as it did on previous jailbreak. Very consistent 57-60 frames per second. During my second test, I disabled jit. The game then ran terrible. It wasn’t even able to achieve 20fps and stayed consistent at 17fps, which renders any competent fighting game useless. So through that test, it showed that dynarec is indeed working in the new jailbreak. Especially since it’s working just fine on the iPhone 4s on 7.1.1 . The issue again reside within retroarch and the problems that seem to arise when being used on A7 devices. I can’t say this for sure since I only tested on an a5 and a7 device, but I would think that retroarch would work just fine with no issues on a6 devices on 7.1.x as well. For those on a6 devices on the new jailbreak, your feedback regarding this would be great…

Seeing as how the release of the next update has been delayed so devs can make improvements, maybe perhaps these issues with A7 devices jailbroken on 7.1.x can be looked into and addressed before the release of the next update?

#2

JIT and dynarec aren’t exactly the same thing, so finding that PPSSPP’s JIT works and PCSX-ReARMed’s dynarec doesn’t isn’t really comparing apples to apples. Regardless, if the dynarec doesn’t work on the 7.1.x jailbreak, there’s really not a whole lot that can be done on our end, unfortunately.

#3

jit recompilers works on ios 7.1.1

for example mupen64 working perfect

psx rearmed interpreter.dylib working faster on iphone 5S ios 7.1.1. homewever,psx (pcsx rearmed core) crashes

have problem only whit this game,alone in the dark (psx) not working in psx rearmed interpreter.dylib, info log says is caused for ari64_reset

others psx game are perfect.

#4

jit recompilers works on ios 7.1.1

for example mupen64 working perfect

psx rearmed interpreter.dylib working faster on iphone 5S ios 7.1.1. homewever,psx (pcsx rearmed core) crashes

have problem only whit this game,alone in the dark (psx) not working in psx rearmed interpreter.dylib, info log says is caused for ari64_reset

others psx game are perfect.[/quote]

So you are saying that you do have some psx games that work with 7.1.1…?

#5

jit recompilers works on ios 7.1.1

for example mupen64 working perfect

psx rearmed interpreter.dylib working faster on iphone 5S ios 7.1.1. homewever,psx (pcsx rearmed core) crashes

have problem only whit this game,alone in the dark (psx) not working in psx rearmed interpreter.dylib, info log says is caused for ari64_reset

others psx game are perfect.[/quote]

So you are saying that you do have some psx games that work with 7.1.1…?[/quote]

Yes,using psx rearmed interpreter dylib.

Working silent hill,crash bandicot,kof milenium battle,FF7,etc

Some others dont work like alone in the dark due ari64_reset

#6

Ah, I see. However, dynarec is working just fine on an iPhone 4s on 7.1.1. No issues using the default psx rearmed core and settings. I’ve only tested my iPhone 5s on 7.1.2, and some replies above me have stated that they have gotten psx games to work on a 5s on 7.1.1. Though by only using the interpreter dylib and that the psx remarmed core still crashes on their 5s on 7.1.1. Is there anyone else on a A6 or lower device jailbroken on 7.1.2 that can test the psx rearmed core? There’s no way a iPhone 4s could play some demanding psx games, especially fighting games which require 60fps without the aid of dynarec, right? Yet on 7.1.1, psx games are still playing just as great on the 4s. I doubt 7.1.2 is the cause of the issue, and both 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 use the same new jailbreak tool. Seems like the problems so far (from my testing) revolve around A7 devices. Along with the psx rearmed crashes, I still can’t connect a ps3 controller on the 5s on 7.1.2 even though it’s working perfectly on the 4s on 7.1.1.

Anyways, I’m going to update the 4s to 7.1.2 and re-jailbreak it and conduct a few more test to see if it’s 7.1.2 and the recently updated pangu jailbreak that’s causing issues, I’ll report my findings soon. Would be great if other users could give feedback regarding retroarch on their 7.1.2 devices. Other A7 devices, A6 and below especially, and how cores and btstack pairing are performing on their end.

#7

Alright, back with some feedback on my test.

I updated the iPhone 4s to 7.1.2 and jailbroke it with the latest version of pangu (1.1), I then installed retroarch and btstack. Then I put some psx games on the iPhone and began my test of RA on the 4s on 7.1.2.

I first paired the ps3 controller and set up my inputs in global config. I encountered no issues, paired properly during my first attempt and played with no issues during my whole test. I then played 4 different psx games on the psx rearmed core, default settings.

-Evil Zone (fighting game), legend of dragoon (RPG), odd world Abe’s oddysee (platformer), and super robot wars alpha gaiden (srpg) all loaded fine with no issues and played great, just as it did on 6.x,7.0.x, and 7.1.1. Consistent 59/60fps, dipped no lower than 58fps.

So, it’s safe to say that the jailbreak on 7.1.x firmwares isn’t breaking dynarec, it appears to be working just fine on the 4s, and RA is playing with no issues; controllers pair just fine, games load up fine, 0 core crashings, etc… …however, the same can’t be said for A7 devices. Even on 7.0.x, A7 devices still encounter btstack issues in RA (even though it works fine in other emulators). Now on the new jailbreak and 7.1.x, seems like RA is even more buggy, with btstack pairing refusing to work at all in RA along with the psx rearmed core crashing… Hopefully it’s an easy fix…

#8

thanks for testing.

So, everything works fine all the time on 4s/A6. 5/A7 doesn’t work with dynarec on 7.1.x, but did it work on 7.0.x and/or earlier? And btstack doesn’t have any problems with other applications in 7.0/1.x? only RA?

#9

Ah, I just posted a new topic, with the update of libstatusbar (now supports 64bit devices) that was just pushed out in cydia, it appears that all issues when it comes to btstack on A7 devices have been resolved. I believe there shouldn’t be any more issues when it comes to connecting a ps3 controller on any device (A7 or lower) on any jailbreak (firmwares 7.1.2 down to 6.x).

I’ve had an iPhone 4S (A5 32bit) and ipad 4 (A6 32bit), they’ve never had any issues with dynarec or ps3 controller pairing. Tested on 6.1.2 all the way to 7.1.2, works great.

Now I have an ipad air and iphone 5s, both A7 64bit devices. On 7.0.x, cores all worked great but pairing a controller had many issues, it was never consistent or stable. Now libstatusbar has been updated. Now there is no issues with ps3 controller pairing on 7.0.x. Everything is very stable and work great all the time, no issues.

My ipad air is still on 7.0.6 but my iphone 5s is now on 7.1.2. On 7.1.2, controller pairs with the 5s in RA perfect, no issues since libstatusbar was JUST updated a pushed out in cydia. But before that, it wouldn’t work on 7.1.2. Though now, that’s history. Only one issue remains:

Pcsx rearmed core crashing every time when trying to load a game on my iphone 5s on 7.1.2. The iPhone 4S on 7.1.2 has no issues, no crashing, plays great. Dynarec appears to be working just fine on the 4s. The pcsx rearmed core is only crashing on A7 devices. I don’t know for sure what is causing it to crash, I think it’s an issue with 64bit and not a dynarec issue, since dynarec is working fine on the 4s on 7.1.2 which is a 32bit device.

So in short, when it comes to RA and btstack pairing and dynarec/core issues: *Btstack-6.x through 7.1.2 (from my testings), no longer (hopefully?) any issues for all devices, A7, A6, A5 and down. (For evasi0n and pangu jailbreaks) works perfect. *dynarec/core issues-6.x through 7.1.2, no issues for A6 (iPhone 5, 5C, and ipad 4th gen) or A5 (iPhone 4S, ipad 2, ipad mini, iPod touch 5th gen) and perhaps lower (A4 and down) devices on the evasi0n and pangu jailbreak. Works great from my tests. A7 devices (iphone 5S, ipad air, and ipad mini retina) have no issues with dynarec/core problems on 6.x through 7.0.x.

A7 devices on 7.1.x, pcsx rearmed core will crash RA when attempting to load a game. Cause: Unsure. Only affects A7 devices on 7.1.x, this doesn’t not happen on A6 or lower devices on 7.1.x

#10

How do I change the core?

My ps3 is still acting kinda strange, especially the analogs.

#11

If there are multiple kinds of cores for a specific machine, then you would choose which core you want to use when you go to load up a game. Some systems, like the psx or n64, only have one actually functional core for RA on iOS. So you can’t switch cores when it comes to psx or n64 games on iOS currently. Though core issues and controller issues are two different issues which don’t normally relate to each other, at least that’s what I’d assume…

#12

this is a fix for A7 devices like iPhone 5s, iPad air, and iPad mini retina. download this file and unzip it. http://www.mediafire.com/download/ey1dth9fyn6qubk/psx_for_A7.zip

just drop the two files: 1- pcsx_rearmed_interpreter_libretro_ios.dylib 2-pcsx_rearmed_interpreter_libretro.info to this directory > var/stash/_.Itmikn/Applications/RetroArch.app/modules or shortcut /Applications/RetroArch.app/modules

after that make sure to quit Retroarch then launch it again for the new configuration to take effect. you will see new core which is Playstaion1 (Non-JB)(PCSX ReARMed)