UAE core for Retroarch

papermanzero · 4 September 2018 21:40

The question is on which uae core to focus? Puae or fs-uae?

escalade · 5 September 2018 21:42

PUAE is inactive since 2014 so I’d say FS-UAE. Wonder if the author would be interested in this.

GemaH · 5 September 2018 22:14

one more vote for FS UAE. Im using it for my Hyperspin setup, i wish i could use RetroArch instead.

duiz · 5 September 2018 23:22

How would I go about starting a bounty to update and enable WHDload for FS UAE libretro? I’ll put up some money for it to start it up.

papermanzero · 8 September 2018 09:34

In general the FS UAE core has to be optimized to run games. The stability is, as far as I know, not given.

DamsRoxxx · 3 October 2018 18:37

Hi Everyone,

P-UAE core build was broken on windows since a long time. Many improvements have been done since this date.

Last week I fixed it and added support for adf, hdf/hdz (WHDLoad) and M3U with disk control from within RetroArch for multi-disk games.

The latest version of the core can be found in the nightly repo and be updated from the core updater from with retroarch.

Updated documentation can be found at :

github.com

libretro/libretro-uae/blob/master/README.md

# P-UAE LIBRETRO

Based on P-UAE 2.6.1 https://github.com/GnoStiC/PUAE 
Git Commit: 0186c1b16f7181ffa02d73e6920d3180ce457c46

All credits to :

Richard Drummond "http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/"

E-UAE is based on the work of dozens of contributors including Bernd
Schmidt (the original author and maintainer of UAE), Bernie Meyer (the
author of the x86 JIT compiler), Toni Wilen (the current maintainer of
WinUAE), and many more.

This RETRO port was  based at start on PS3 version E-UAE 0.8.29-WIP4 release 8
(so aslo credits to Ole.)

For now we use the UAE core provided by P-UAE 2.6.1 :
Git Commit: 0186c1b16f7181ffa02d73e6920d3180ce457c46
https://github.com/GnoStiC/PUAE

This file has been truncated. show original

In my opininion the core work pretty well now. Every game I launched (mostly in hdf/WHDLoad form) worked seamlessly.

I would be glad if you could give it a try and tell me if it work for you and what you think of it

Edit: Removed the link to my personnal build

duiz · 12 September 2018 22:53

Wow, I will try it!

One question however, the documentation doesn’t really point out how the .uae files and such deal with file locations in windows. Can you point out more clearly where to place the different boot files and how to instruct the .uae document to locate them proper?

DamsRoxxx · 13 September 2018 08:17

Mainly, you don’t have to use a specific .uae file anymore.

In fact, there is two mode:

Direct launch of an adf, hdf, m3u file,
Or, use a specific .uae file.

Direct launch of an adf, hdf, m3u file

You don’t have to write a specific uae file.

You need the three kickstart roms specified in the documentation in you RetroArch/system directory.

If you want to use WHDLoad, you also need WHDLoad.hdf in RetroArch/system directory.

Then, just launch the game with:

RetroArch.exe -L cores/puae_libretro.dll <PATH_TO_YOUR_ADF_HDF_M3U_FILE>

The game should start automatically.

In the background the core generate a temporary .uae file.

Use a specific .uae file

You can write your own .uae, put it where you want and launch it with:

RetroArch.exe -L cores/puae_libretro.dll <PATH_TO_YOUR_UAE_FILE>

In the .uae file you have to specify the path to your kickstart rom and adf/hdf file (m3u not supported). Path can be absolute or relative to the current working dir (so, absolute is a lot easier).

ghizzu · 13 September 2018 08:22

At last!! Thank you for your work

I tested it with some games and it seems to work well. As I understand, though, to work with WHDLoad.hdf you have to create an .uae file with WHDLoad.hdf as the first, bootable, harddrive and the game hdf as 2nd harddrive, is that correct? Because if you load the game.hdf directly with retroarch it doesn’t seem to work, even with WHDLoad.hdf in the system directory.

And some questions: Does it supports filesystem drives (i.e. host sysyem directories)? Does it supports cd32 images?

DamsRoxxx · 13 September 2018 08:45

Hi @ghizzu, you’re welcome.

Here is some answers.

As I understand, though, to work with WHDLoad.hdf you have to create an .uae file with WHDLoad.hdf as the first, bootable, harddrive and the game hdf as 2nd harddrive, is that correct? Because if you load the game.hdf directly with retroarch it doesn’t seem to work, even with WHDLoad.hdf in the system directory.

No, you don’t have to write a specific .uae file (but you can if you want).

You only need to have WHDLoad.hdf in your RetroArch/system directory. You also need the three kickstart roms for A500, A600 and A1200 in the WHDLoad.hdf file and in your RetroArch/system directory.

All my games are in hdf form and work this way.

If you have problem maybe you can take a look at the logs and post them here. You can also see/post the generated RetroArch/save/puae_libretro.uae file.

You can also write a specific .uae file the way you described.

Does it supports filesystem drives (i.e. host sysyem directories)?

No, it don’t work for now. It seems that there is a bug with file attributes.

Anyway, If you want to test that you need to write a specific .uae file as there are not supported by the autolaunch functionnality.

Does it supports cd32 images?

Never tried, if you want to test that you need to write a specific .uae file as there are not supported by the autolaunch functionnality.

duiz · 13 September 2018 09:40

Seeing that you say launch from a commandline, does that mean the core does not support loading content within the retroarch UI?

ghizzu · 13 September 2018 09:51

Mmmmm… for some reasons this system for me works only if emulating an A1200 machine (even for A500 games). Need further investigating.

DamsRoxxx · 13 September 2018 11:56

Seeing that you say launch from a commandline, does that mean the core does not support loading content within the retroarch UI?

Oh no, it also work well from the retroarch GUI

But the core information file need to be updated to tell retroarch that this core now support hdf, hdz and m3u. This update is also pending in GitHub…

So you can only launch adf or uae files from retroarch for the moment or you will have to modify your local core infos in retroarch directory.

ghizzu · 13 September 2018 09:57

In the meantime, for loading hdf files in Retroarch GUI, you need to load the PUAE core beforehand. Then it recognize the hdf file.

zachmorris · 13 September 2018 20:36

DamsRoxx, thanks very much for these updates. Question on the m3u support. How many disks max can PUAE handle?

The Amiga version of Beneath a Steel Sky for example was 15 disks.

duiz · 14 September 2018 06:17

Everything I have thrown at it works 100%!!! This is my most anticipated addition to Retroarch so this will be a very excited weekend filled with memories and nostalgia

DamsRoxxx · 14 September 2018 06:38

You’re all very welcome.

I do not deserve all the credits, many bugs was fixed before my changes thanks to all the contributors. They were just not available in the windows build

Currently it support 20 disks but it can be expanded (need a rebuild).

ghizzu · 14 September 2018 08:34

Found the problem: wrong A600 rom. Incidentally, I’ve made a Kodi Retroplayer addon of your core and it seems to work great.

duiz · 15 September 2018 02:46

I just noticed @DamsRoxxx added m3u support to vice as well. That is means most of the popular microcomputers are now highly compatible with retroarch!

DamsRoxxx · 15 September 2018 08:17

For now, m3u and disk control support is done for:

Amiga (p-uae) pull request pending in GitHub,
Amstrad CPC (cap32) available in nightly repo,
Atari ST (hatari) available in nightly repo,
Commodore 64, 128, … (vice) pull request pending in GitHub.

Over time, I plan to had it to classic computers cores whenever it’s possible as it greatly enhance there usability

I’ve created a dedicated thread: