Signed Retroarch cores for iOS 10 don't load

RetroArch Apple devices
#12

Jailbroken iOS 10.2 iPhone 6s+ & Ipad Air 2

I have tried literally everything in this thread to get retroarch working agan on my phone and iPad. I was using version 1.3.6 on both until one day they just stopped working and would crash whenever I tried loading something. Tried reinstalling from Cydia, making sure bios files were correct, updating cores, side loading your ipa with the cores included on them, changed the config file to what you said, restated my devices in regular non-jailbroken mode and absolutely nothing has worked for me. I really want to play my old games but this is getting so freaking frustrating that I’m about ready to give up. I really don’t understand why they’ve changed everything amd made it so hard to do little stuff that was so simple before.

#13

We just updated the Cydia repo at buildbot.libretro.com/repo/cydia, so you can try using those packages. There’s currently an issue with some cores giving a black screen but we’re on it and it should be fixed soon.

#14

Tried installing both versions and they crash as soon as I open them

#15

The crashing issue because mobileprovision is missing and required on iOS 9 and 10. And the cores must be signed to work properly. Just try delete all retroarch old files and apps. From cydia delete the app then backup your saves, states and all necessary contents. Delete retroarch folder from var/mobile/document/retroarch Get retroarch IPA and install it using cydia impactor. 1.3.6 cores included

1.6.0 cores included

after you install it you will be ready to use it. But if you want to be like deb(cydia) apps, then you need to follow these steps: 1- use filza app from cydia to copy Retroarch.app from this directory(/var/containers/bundle/Application/RetroArch) to (/Application/) 2- install or reinstall activator from cydia to help retroarch to be installed. 3- Before you run Retroarch check the this directory (var/mobile/documents/RetroArch) and delete “config” folder or file then run Retroarch to extract assets. 4- go to (/Application/Retroarch.app) and delete assets.zip 5- move the folder modules from (/Application/Retorach.app) to (var/mobile/documents/RetroArch) steps 4 and 5 will free up storage on that place. 6- now you need to tell retorarch where the cores are located. Run retroarch settings>directory>core dir = (var/mobile/documents/RetroArch/modules). 7- optional for the roms(games) retroarch settings>directory> File browser Dir = (var/mobile/documents/RetroArch/Roms(games folder). 8- double tap on home button while retroarch running will save the new settings.

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#16

Thank you for all of that. I got the app to start up, but when ibtruvto play a game, it keeps saying “Failed to load libretro core” I’m using the ipa with the cores provided already. Even copied them like you said for the jailbreak version.

#17

I don’t know what you have done, I assumed you have done all the steps and you still getting fail to load core. This error caused by premission, not signed cores or using iOS 8 cores. Premission error due you used ifunbox to copy folders or the documents folder already set to not premit to excute, read or write. First check the documents folder (var/Mobile/) using ifile tap on little “i” and set the ownship to mobile for both Owner and group. And set user, group and world to read, write and excute. And do the same to Retroarch folder (var/mobile/documents/). Then the core folder as well (var/mobile/documents/Retroarch) If it doesn’t work then you should try just to install RetroArch as IPA app and test the cores from there. Before you do that just delete Retroarch.app from Application folder (/Application/) then reinstall activator. After that, check if retroarch exit as IPA app and delete from the home screen. Now, start over by and installing retroarch using cydia impactor and just test the cores from there.

#18

It may just be my newb ass that messed this up, but for other people having core loading issues on iOS 10, one possible cause may be a mismatch between a 64bit RetroArch and 32bit cores. If you use the cores from the buildbot or build the cores as described in the link from the Libretro home page, as far as I can tell you end up building 32bit cores and a 64bit app. In my case I wasn’t able to load any of the cores until I deleted the Armv64 target in Xcode and explicitly built 32bit.

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#19

I had the same issue with RetroArch 1.6. On my iPad Pro 10.3.2 My signed cores wouldn’t load. The solution is to put your signed cores in the modules directory BEFORE you build retroarch into Xcode. When you do that it will be part of the application create on your iOS device and even if you don’t see a cores directory they will be there and working when you’ll load a rom.

Hope it’s help.

#20

I’m having a similar problem where i can’t get any cores to load… I followed the instructions here

https://buildbot.libretro.com/docs/compilation/ios/

I’ve confirmed with this command

codesign -dvv mednafen_psx_libretro_ios.dylib

that the core modules under

libretro-super/retroarch/pkg/apple/iOS/modules/

have been signed.

They appear in the list of cores I can choose from when running retroarch on my iPad Pro but when I select any of them “Load Core” I’m left with (No Core ) displaying in the top menu bar. If i go ahead and try to run a rom then select a core that i’ve loaded i just get the popup at the bottom of the “failed to open libretro” popup at the bottom of the screen.

dayton94, your suggestion of manually signing cores into the modules directory BEFORE building retroarch is something I could look into i guess… Should I clean my build to try your fix out? I’ve built successively and deployed to the pad as the documentation mentions that sometimes they’re signed after they’re copied to the pad so don’t work the first time you build but if you just build and deploy then the 2nd time round the signed versions get written to.

I’m also curious about the 32bit/64bit mixup potential that atsumori-neo has suggested… Not sure how to discover the build type for the cores and retroarch but I’m guessing we all need to be using 64bit soon with the imminent iOS11 requiring it.

Sort of our of ideas at the moment… there’s no debugging obvious in the output from the program when attached to Xcode whenever the cores fail to load :frowning:

Any help is really appreciated! Cheers!

#21

I don’t know how you would check the cores, but I do know that when I set the app to only build in armv7 it started to work correctly. To do that open up Xcode, select the project then, in the middle window chose Build Settings from the top section. Under “Valid Architectures” remove arm64 and you should be ok.

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#22

This is my way to sign cores:

1- download any retroarch IPA version for code signing purpose.

2- drop cores inside modules folder inside the Retroarch.ipa.

3- download iOS app signer and use it to resign retroarch.ipa. When click start, you will see cores being code signed.

4- extract the IPA and you will see all cores modified date have been changed to today. Take the cores and use them up with Xcode.

iOS app signer http://dantheman827.github.io/ios-app-signer/

Ios 9 Cores http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/apple/ios9/latest/

N64 core for ios9

#23

Thanks for the replies. I’m not able to test against my device until I get some free time, but I will have a go at disabling 64bit. Though I kind of want to jump the iOS 11 gun a little and try and get 64bit working so it could stay working when iOS 11 drops. There is another thread on iOS 11 hacking which I’ll ask on as I believe they’ve managed to get some cores compiling in 64bit. Mame2003 is one of the ones that matters most for me running in an incase and getting that full nostalgia!

Thanks for the signing tips too. Unfortunately my device isn’t jailbroken so I presume I can’t use the .ipa method you described?

Wish I had more time to tinker with this but at the moment sadly I don’t.

#24

Well, you can install ipa files on non-jailbroken iOS devices using Cydia impactor (google cydia impactor). On my previous post, I was telling you how to code sign cores without using terminal. after you have signed all cores then you should extract the ipa and take signed cores to RetroArch-master/pkg/apple/ios/modules. This will elminate cores can’t load, but make sure signed cores and Retroarch app using the same apple account.

#25

I want to play as many arcade games as possible on my iPhone, and i realized there’s a new version of FB Alpha code named 0.2.97.42. The Retroarch on my PC is already playing this, is it possible for this version to run on the newer ios devices?

#26

Yes this core FB Alpha 0.2.97.42 is working on iOS.

#27

Where do I get it, the one in the 1.6.7 RetroArch IPA you provided was the previous 0.2.97.39 version.

#28

choose Arcade (FB Alpha)

#29

Maybe I want to know how to get the newest signed up to date cores for iOS.

#30

From here you can get the newest cores https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/apple/ios9/latest/ newest Retroarch https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/apple/ios9/ put the cores inside modules folder

IMG_1648.jpg2208×1242 317 KB

Screenshot from my iphone

#31

Awesome, thanks for bringing this up. Now I’ll be ready some future updates!