Hi, been hovering for a while so decided to register, great work as always, nice to see the major work added since the PS3 days a few years ago.
Got my nVidia Shield a few days ago and have been adding emulators etc of course RetroArch was added, but having trouble putting my emulator borders or finding where the folders are through file manager.
Of course the resolution is different to the ps3 so ill have to resize them, Anyway I can add these? cheers.
@jacee900 The easiest way to do it is via the custom overlay system. Just setup a super-basic overlay (either from scratch or by modifying one of the existing ones) that only refers to the border (that is, no button coordinates or anything) and then use the integer-scale option.
See this thread for more information and some examples: http://forum.themaister.net/viewtopic.php?pid=6642#p6642
Can’t wait for my $250 ebay Shield to show up on monday so I can load up some Retroarch. It’ll also be my first time running Retroarch Android on the big screen as I’ve not had an Android device with HDMI out before, just the Wii.
So did Nvidia donate a few Shields to the Retroarch team for testing and development? I just ask because if that is the case then my opinion of them just improved dramatically. I am pondering upgrading to an Nvidia card capable of streaming now thanks to the Shield, and their participation in the Libretro project would definitely push me closer to a definite purchase.
Here’s a dumb question: is there anyway to use a virtual keyboard within Doom, or to otherwise access the numline (1-0) so that you can change weapons? Without dragging out a bluetooth keyboard I mean? I had this issue on my Xperia Play as well and anticipate it with the Shield.
Ok thanks, once I’ve done that, where do i put the file? or how do I access the file from within the menu?
In the settings menu, go to ‘input settings’ and set the ‘input overlay’ to point to your custom cfg (you’ll have to browse to it on your phone)
@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.[/quote]
Much appreciate the reply spnart, thanks.
Out of curiosity, how is the brightness on the Shield, compared to say, an HTC Phone or an iPhone? Can you still see the screen in an outdoor setting under the sun?
It will definitely be lightyears ahead of any console in terms of CPU performance - hell, it might even be above a Core 2 Duo for that matter. A PS3 by comparison has single-core performance comparable to a Pentium 4 2.4GHz PC.
GPU-wise it is not comparable to an RSX but it’s getting there and shader performance is very respectable.
So did Nvidia donate a few Shields to the Retroarch team for testing and development? I just ask because if that is the case then my opinion of them just improved dramatically. I am pondering upgrading to an Nvidia card capable of streaming now thanks to the Shield, and their participation in the Libretro project would definitely push me closer to a definite purchase.
Yes, they did, and it has been zero strings attached.
I’m definitely thankful at least since if it weren’t for the Shield we probably wouldn’t have rammed through these improvements to the Android port now.
Here’s a dumb question: is there anyway to use a virtual keyboard within Doom, or to otherwise access the numline (1-0) so that you can change weapons? Without dragging out a bluetooth keyboard I mean? I had this issue on my Xperia Play as well and anticipate it with the Shield.
I hooked up real keyboard and mouse support for Quake at least.
But we still have to add support for ‘real’ keyboard and mouse input on RetroArch Android at least. (as in - real RETRO_DEVICE_MOUSE/RETRO_DEVICE_KEYBOARD support in cores).
@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.[/quote]
Much appreciate the reply spnart, thanks.
Out of curiosity, how is the brightness on the Shield, compared to say, an HTC Phone or an iPhone? Can you still see the screen in an outdoor setting under the sun?[/quote]
I just tested it outdoors in direct sunlight. The iPad Mini is a total crapshoot - you can’t see ANYTHING. This thing however - it’s very, very respectable and totally playable. Tried it with Sonic 4 Part II in direct sunlight and it’s very good.
The screen BTW - it might be small, but the pixel density really makes the graphics look amazing. You won’t believe the kind of awesome graphics you get out of PCSX ReARMed with NEON enhanced resolution turned on - turn on a few shaders too and you could be mistaken for thinking these were early PS2 games.
I also tried something out like Epic Citadel and at certain parts - when looking at the castle from the bridge - I had to do double takes because the graphics looked so real - I had that effect with certain textures as well.It’s definitely been the first time in a long time I have been wowed by a ‘console’ or device like this - last time was probably an N64 or PS1 back when that happened. I wasn’t really ‘wowed’ or jaw dropping the floor by anything since on either PS2, Xbox 1, Gamecube, Wii, or PS3, Xbox 360 - it all seemed rather ‘meh fest’ to me - so the graphics got better, so the assets are better, so what? For some reason though - running Epic Citadel on this handheld gamepad is really amazing to me.
To think just in 2001 we were impressed by a castrated SNES in handheld form and now you’re running graphics on this thing that can easily compete with anything 360/PS3 has to offer and probably with better visual IQ - and to have that in handheld form - if you ask me, PS4 and Xbox One are never going to survive another six-year cycle again if tablets/phones and handheld-based Android devices like this keep upping performance every 18 months or so.
Only sucky thing I guess is the lack of high-profile Android games vs. iOS games - but hey, with RetroArch, that isn’t really a problem 
Hi thanks it worked along with the right text in the cfg file via your FAQ.
The only thing by selecting it from the main menu is that it sets it for every emulator, is there anyway when you select a different core it preloads a shader preset?
Hi thanks it worked along with the right text in the cfg file via your FAQ.
The only thing by selecting it from the main menu is that it sets it for every emulator, is there anyway when you select a different core it preloads a shader preset?[/quote]
I’m trying to implement per-core settings for 0.9.9.5. It will be an optional feature that nevertheless I think a lot of people have requested.
Excellent news!
One last thing, after I’ve set the integer scale on and adjusted overlay scale so it fits in my border perfectly, I change game and its reset the game screen to the left hand side of the screen, my border and settings are still there, is this a known issue or am I not setting something right?
Cheers
@jaycee I’m not sure I follow (and if I do, I’m not experiencing this on my phone). Would you mind posting a screenshot?
This is how it looks when I set it up and scale correctly.
This is how it looks when I come out and load gambatte back up.
Edit: just found the scale integer in the first main settings menu, so the game screen is now in the centre on the bottom picture, but its reverted back to 3x3 I want 4x4, and the overlay scale is set at 1.50 which is saved in the menu but upon loading its back to the original full picture size as seen in the bottom pic too.
Edit 2: changed aspect ratio to auto in settings which sets it at 4x4, so just need the border image to load at 1.50 scale and its sorted!
It will definitely be lightyears ahead of any console in terms of CPU performance - hell, it might even be above a Core 2 Duo for that matter. A PS3 by comparison has single-core performance comparable to a Pentium 4 2.4GHz PC.
GPU-wise it is not comparable to an RSX but it’s getting there and shader performance is very respectable.
So did Nvidia donate a few Shields to the Retroarch team for testing and development? I just ask because if that is the case then my opinion of them just improved dramatically. I am pondering upgrading to an Nvidia card capable of streaming now thanks to the Shield, and their participation in the Libretro project would definitely push me closer to a definite purchase.
Yes, they did, and it has been zero strings attached.
I’m definitely thankful at least since if it weren’t for the Shield we probably wouldn’t have rammed through these improvements to the Android port now.
[quote:12f6vp58] Here’s a dumb question: is there anyway to use a virtual keyboard within Doom, or to otherwise access the numline (1-0) so that you can change weapons? Without dragging out a bluetooth keyboard I mean? I had this issue on my Xperia Play as well and anticipate it with the Shield.[/quote]
I hooked up real keyboard and mouse support for Quake at least.
But we still have to add support for ‘real’ keyboard and mouse input on RetroArch Android at least. (as in - real RETRO_DEVICE_MOUSE/RETRO_DEVICE_KEYBOARD support in cores).[/quote:12f6vp58]
Thank you for your reply and for you time, and for the work of all of the Retroarch Team, to sound like a broken yet completely sincere record. I’m really impressed Nvidia would donate hardware to Libretro, it takes them up quite a few notches in my thinking, and that generous act in concert with the streaming potential of my new Shield means that my next graphics card will almost certainly be Nvidia. Can’t wait for my Shield to show up today.
Awesome post and thanks for the reply man! Sound FANTASTIC!! Keep those progress reports coming! 
I have more stuff to report today -
we got bsnes performance core (version 0.92) running on RetroArch Android. And of course I had to run this on Shield and subject it to some tests.
Super Mario World - fullspeed Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past - fullspeed Killer Instinct - fullspeed Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3 - fullspeed Contra III: The Alien Wars - fullspeed Secret of Mana - fullspeed Seiken Densetsu 3 - fullspeed Street Fighter II Turbo - fullspeed Super Street Fighter II - fullspeed Star Fox 1 - fullspeed Final Fantasy III - fullspeed Super Metroid - fullspeed Tales of Phantasia - fullspeed
Basically - any game that does not have a co-processor CPU inside the cart can be expected to run at fullspeed.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (SuperFX 2) - 50fps Vortex (SuperFX 2) - 45fps Stunt Race FX (SuperFX 2) - 42fps Star Fox 2 (SuperFX2) - 45fps Kirby’s Dreamland 3 (SA-1) - 44fps Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (SA-1) - 50fps Super Mario Kart (DSP1) - 55fps
I didn’t test Super Game Boy or Mega Man X2/X3 yet although I intend to.
All of this and more is heading your way soon in RetroArch Android 0.9.9.5.
So now we have SNES9x Next, SNES9x mainline and bSNES performance core all wrapped up into one little package - for free. Never let it be said we aren’t about choice.
You guys do an amazing job, without Retroarch I wouldn’t of even picked up a Shield. Every core I’ve tried so far has run at full speed with beautiful sound with no latency issues so far, knock on wood. I can’t try the DS yet as I don’t have any physical copies, but everything else has run perfectly. Thanks for all your hard work Libretro, I’m still hunting for an inexpensive Xperia Play to donate to the project so I can give back in some small way.
As for the Shield itself, I’m mostly pleased with it. Build quality is apparently excellent and the unit is very solid. I don’t love the small size of the screen relative to the bezel size, it looks a bit silly and is wasted real estate. I can’t help but envy the Archos Gamepad and Wikipad for the larger screens on some level, even if they are using inferior hardware. The unit is also heavy but manageable at roughly 20 ounces, which is up is about twice a PS Vita or 3 times more than an Xperia Play. The speakers are very loud and reasonably clear, but I find it lacks low end. There is also no physical menu button which is a huge problem for some programs, like making it impossible to save in ScummVM. I also find the R1 and L1 buttons to be uncomfortably small. But I’m nitpicking; the Shield is a very cool device for anyone and a marvelous device for emulation enthusiasts. This must trump the Pandora as the ultimate handheld emulation console. If you love Retroarch on your phone then you’ll love it even more on the Shield.
Could somebody test tekken tag with mame4droid .139? I got it running on my note but it is a slideshow. If it is playable, I will have to buy the shield. Thanks in advance.
That game is not going to run on MAME 0.78.
And the reason it’s a slideshow apart from the Note not being all that powerful is because that is what you get with more recent versions of MAME - which is why I went back all the way to a MAME version from 2003.
That game is not going to run on MAME 0.78.
And the reason it’s a slideshow apart from the Note not being all that powerful is because that is what you get with more recent versions of MAME - which is why I went back all the way to a MAME version from 2003.[/quote]
harrylung2004, i don’t know how is powerfull the shield ,but you can trust Squarepusher when he said the newers mame releases are very slower .
in the past , i had port mame 0.139 for libretro to see how it was slower . the result is that in my old low android phone (htc desire S) and even with an old game like tetris it’s was very slower than with mame0.78
ex : for tetris i get 40 fps with 0.139 and fullspeed with mame 0.78 for mk2 i get 20 fps wtih 0.139 and 42 fps with mame 0.78 1941 i get 34fps with 0.139 and 54 fps with mame 0.78