Is there a compiling Source to apk tutorial that’s specific to Android anywhere? I saw one for the PS3 version. I want to give it a shot. Thanks!
Not going to last too much longer now. No point in belaboring this much further.
For certain PS1 games where we cannot rely on static syncing to do the job, just remember to set ‘Threaded video’ to ON. Anyway, games like Tekken 2/3 and other games running at 60Hz should be fine - so it’s just a bit of trial and error really.
It’s not that threaded video with adaptive jitter is ‘bad’ perse, it’s just not ‘perfect’ like static syncing is. Which is why I insist on it as the default option.
In this thread you had stated to turn threaded video off (post 62), but when the newest Android build autodetects the optimal settings for the Shield it turns that option on(Video Settings>Threaded Video Driver is checked on a fresh install). Should I in fact turn it off or did something change between the time you posted that recommendation and the current build? The post right above seems to indicate we should use that setting for the 30hz games.
I enable it by default because it’s a lot less hassle for nearly 95 to 97% of the entire Android userbase.
Fact is - there is a small amount of ‘jitter’ (adaptive) that purists might pick up on. On the plus side - there will absolutely not be any audio crackles as a result of either video or audio being ‘late’.
For Nvidia Shield I’d say - you need to do the following if you want to try static syncing:
- Go to the Play Store app - turn off Auto-updates
- Go to Settings -> Accounts Sync - turn it off - it should no longer show Green or any color in fact
- Turn off Wifi, turn off GPS
The Forced Refreshrate is already preconfigured at 60Hz so you no longer need to change that.
Every core should run absolutely fine with this setting on. PSX core is a mixed bag - Tekken 2/3/even stuff like Ridge Racer Type 4 should work fine with static syncing. Chrono Cross/FF7/Crash Bandicoot 1is a disaster though due to variable refresh rates being used in those games. Anyway, all those games should run fine with threaded video on.
I think threaded video with adaptive jitter is a really good general purpose default mode - the ‘jittering’ is probably unnoticeable to all but die-hard guys. So try both and tell me what you think.
Thanks. Before I had read this I had threaded video off and was messing around with Final Fantasy 9 trying to reduce audio cracking I was getting. Using the calibration setting it seems like the refresh rate changes constantly between 57 and 59Hz so I could never get it right.
Turning the threaded video back on and setting the refresh back to 60.0 cleared everything up so far, at least to my ear 
Thank you.
Edit - also, is there a setting I need to enable to turn on the analog sticks in a game like Final Fantasy 9? The dpad works to move my character but the left analog stick doesn’t seem to do anything even though it appears to be detected if I enable the keycode reporting.
Edit 2 - figured it out. Enable dpad emulation to left joystick.
Thanks again for RetroArch. It really is nice and let’s me delete like 10 different emulators I was using.
Runs great on a Shield eh?
Makes me feel good the Android port is finally becoming usable on modern hardware.
One more question. Is it normal for the analog sticks to only recognize one direction at a time while they are emulating the dpad? Like in Final Fantasy 9 using the dpad I can run in diagonals but if I use the analog stick I can only go in north, south, east, west. It isn’t combining north and west to northwest if I push it diagonal. The diagonals seem to be dead spots in the analog stick.
The D-pad to analog mapping might still have bugs in it with regards to diagonal deadzones - and it’s a bitch to configure that right for these many devices since they are all likely to have different deadzones. For now, assume real analog support for cores that support it and just use the D-pad for games that required normal D-pad controls.
Ahh, thanks. Your line about real analog support made me think I was doing something wrong and I was since I was positive PCSX ReARMed would have real analog support. I didn’t realize I had to “turn on” analog support in the core options of the PCSX core. I assumed they would be on by default or in the input settings so I immediately looked to the input settings and I had assumed turning dpad emulation on to the left stick was the same as turning on analog support, just poorly worded. My mistake. Once I actually enabled analog from the core options they worked perfectly in final fantasy 9.
Now, time to waste some hours…
Man, Fantastic job on this. Everything I throw at it runs great! THIS is the device I’ve been waiting for. I started looking into Android portables with buttons for a year after giving up on touch screen emulation. I started with the Xperia play, rooted custom rom and all but the emulation was too inconsistent. Then my BIG mistake in getting the Archos Gamepad. The touchscreen on it began to act on its own and not to mention the d-pad. HORRIBLE. If any Archos rep happens to be reading. I hate you, go choke on this thing. Then I tried the various bluetooth controllers for emulation on my phone… battery killer. I almost went and bought that $600 Open Pandora portable after hearing a lot about it, then the Shield hit my radar. Then after that, Retroarch. Thanks again for this awesome program guys!
There really is nothing out now that can compete with it when it comes to a RetroArch console.
It looks like most of the problems with Android can be put down to overaggressive power management on the part of these cell phone manufacturers - issues the Shield doesn’t suffer from. Take that out of the equation and Android can be awesome for RetroArch (and consistent).
Hey all,
I shamelessly made an account just to post this post, hehe. After reading through these forums in regards to the shield(which I own) I believe version with shield controller support was already released? or was it just released with partial support for now? I finally got most of the controls working, but still no dice on the analog sticks and wonder if that’s still a pending support that hasn’t been included in a release yet. Anyway, thanks for all the effort, most other emulators aren’t putting forth this sort of effort to support various control schemas.
Analogs should be working, AFAIK, you just have to enable them in RGUI
Well, it’s ‘real’ analog support.
Meaning - in PCSX ReARMed ,you can go to Core Options in RGUI, set Pad 1 Type to ‘analog’ - that will enable Dual Shock mode.
Quake also has a similar option.
But no - by default there is no D-pad to analog mapping going on - although you can try and change this in RGUI by going to Input and changing DPad emulation to Left Stick or Right Stick - but diagonals right now might not be working properly.
Anyway, D-pad controls are best left to the D-pad - the analog stick doesn’t really add anything to it when it’s just mapped to a D-pad under the hood.
That’s the part I was missing, everything “just works” once the core option was flipped to analog. Everything works great now, woot. I loaded up a few games and gave it a test run and its pure analog euphoria. I’m happy we have an emulator on android that’s actually doing this sort of mapping correctly and completely. Thanks for the efforts once again.
Seems I must have did something which broke the analog support on my shield as it’s no longer functioning. ‘Pad 1 type’ under core options(for PCSX ReARMEd) is set to analog still, and I used ‘optimal device settings’ from the main menu in an attempt to fix things. on input options for PCSX ReARMed I tried both JoyPad and JoyPad w/ Analog for the Device Type setting and neither appear to do anything. DPad emulation I tried setting to various settings to see if that had any effect and nothing seemed to help.
EDIT: Alright, apparently I’m just a dumbass, the analogs still work, just not in certain games, which may just be how the games were designed. Breath of Fire 3 for example, I have to used the D-Pad for movement, which is clunky but I guess it works.
Could this ever be translated to the Ouya since it also doesn’t have to worry about power management? Obviously it’s less powerful than the Shield but one can hope.
I have a coupe questions about the Shield’s power and battery consumption:
A)Approximately how many hows of play time can you get from using it mainly with games running in RA on a single full charge?
B)Is it true that the Shield contains an internal battery and there is NO WAY to remove and replace it(aka Apple products)? If so, that would be extremely disappointing!! :mad: :pissed:
I will try it on android too
@A: I played around with emulators, played android games, and streamed PC games to it all day and didnt drain it completely. I think for most people it will last all day at least. It must have a decent battery in it because the thing does have some heft.
@B: Internal battery. To be fair most high end android devices are this way these days.