RetroArch Disc Project – Disc dumping to internal storage now possible!

Libretro Team

We’ve written about the RetroArch Disc Project some time ago. To refreshen your memory, we want to make it possible to play physical optical discs with RetroArch.

It is our full intent to ship an initial beta version of this in a future version of RetroArch (maybe the next one?).

So far, we have added CDROM support for the following systems:

  • PlayStation1
  • Sega CD
  • Sega Saturn
  • 3DO

Disc dumping

We’ve now added disc dumping as well! Go to the Main Menu, go to ‘Load Disc’. If you have more than one physical drive, you’ll see several disc drives. If no disk drives are detected, it will show nothing here.

Assuming you have a disc already inserted, select the disc drive menu entry and it should now start dumping your inserted media disc to RetroArch’s internal storage. During this time, you can go do something else while you wait for it to load. For instance, you can go load another core/game and just play it while waiting for the menu widget to finish.

By default right now, RetroArch will store all dumped CDROM images to the ‘Downloads’ directory of RetroArch. There might be more options for this coming up soon in the  near future.

Disc images are dumped in bin/cue format. Most of the dumped images work generally very well, but games which rely a lot on redbook audio might still have some random issues

RetroArch Netplay – FlyCast – Dreamcast Online Multiplayer gaming! Now with Windows CE support!

Libretro Team

Flycast is an amazing Dreamcast emulator that is perhaps unique for having true zero-configuration online multiplayer capabilities! Flycast WinCE has recently gained support for zero-configuration online connectivity as well, but in this video we will first teach you how to input your ISP settings (most Dreamcast games that supported online multiplayer will require that you have set this up in at least one game once).

In this video (the first of a new series dedicated to online multiplayer gaming with RetroArch), we walk you through how to setup the ‘fake’ ISP online settings that allows you to connect to unofficial Dreamcast servers for the purpose of being able to netplay against other players in online multiplayer-enabled Dreamcast games. Note that Quake III Arena, NFL 2K2 and 4×4 Evolution are some of the only games that allow you to input these ISP settings inside the game itself.

Note also that all the settings you input can be bogus, but make sure the phone number is at least a fictitious 7-digit phone number. It can literally be ‘1234567’ for all we care here.

The online multiplayer is truly cross platform – you can play against other users that are using the standalone Flycast emulator instead of the Libretro core inside RetroArch, but you can even play against people playing with their real Dreamcasts (if they happen to use the same service). To learn more about Dreamcast Live, go to their website <a href=”https://www.dreamcastlive.net/connection-guide”>here</a>.

NOTE: Some games like Starlancer (Windows CE-based game) might require you to input Dial Account 2 as well inside ISP settings. In this video, you only see us setting up Dial Account 1.

Play! Libretro core (PlayStation2 emulator) ready for download on the Libretro/RetroArch buildbot!

Libretro Team

So without further ado, upstream versions of Play!, the PlayStation2 emulator, are finally rolling out on the buildbot today!

Currently, the core is available and has been confirmed to run on:

  • Windows (64bit and 32bit)
  • Linux (64bit and 32bit)
  • Android

How to download it

Inside the main menu, go to ‘Online Updater’.

You might want to make sure first you have the latest info files by selecting ‘Update Core Info Files’ first.

From here, go to Core Updater.

Scroll down until you have found ‘Sony – PlayStation 2 (Play!)’. Download it. Go back to ‘Load Core’, and load it. Now go load a backup image file with it.

NOTE: Play! does not require any BIOS for you to dump, it uses its own HLE (High Level Emulation) BIOS.

What is Play! ?

Play! is a Work In Progress PlayStation2 emulator. Thanks to the great efforts of Zer0xFF, who took three days out of his busy schedule to port the emulator to the libretro API, we can start rolling out this emulator to our buildbot soon!

It must be stressed that Play! is a Work In Progress PS2 emulator, and we mean that literally. Don’t expect every game to run perfectly, far from it. However, it has a solid foundation and already has working dynamic recompilers for all the popular architectures, its value which cannot be understated. The libretro core also already has working savestate support.

System requirements

This core will require OpenGL on the desktop and OpenGL ES3 on mobile devices.

Your system should currently be as powerful as possible in order to get the best possible results. As time improves, system requirements will probably reduce.

Game compatibility is entirely dependent on the state of the upstream #Play! emulator. So as Play! improves, so too will the libretro core!

Help PlayStation2 emulation get better by supporting Play!

#Libretro is currently a Patreon backer of the Play! project, and we are very grateful to Zer0xFF from the Play! project for getting this port up and running in less than 3 days! Good open source PlayStation2 emulation deserves to get more funding, and we are happy to do our part. We hope you will as well!

Example video – running on RetroArch Android on a Samsung Galaxy S10+

Some example videos

Online support for Dreamcast Windows CE games coming soon in Flycast!

Libretro Team
Online support for Dreamcast Windows CE games coming soon in Flycast!

Courtesy of flyinghead (the brains behind the last two years of Reicast development) – online support for Windows CE… coming soon in Flycast! Available as standalone and available as a Libretro core for use in RetroArch!

The screenshot you see above comes from 4×4 Evolution, a racing game that uses Windows CE on the Dreamcast.

Opensource Dreamcast emulation keeps going strong!

Also, flyinghead has recently fixed a bug on the Naomi side that prevented Gun Survivor 2 from working properly. Expect to see a video on that soon!

RetroArch Disc Project – Run real games off CD-ROM with RetroArch, starting with Sega CD, Sega Saturn, PlayStation1 and 3DO! Coming VERY soon!

Libretro Team

So, we just announced the RetroArch Disc Project yesterday. We believe everybody that uses RetroArch and has a CD drive at their disposal should be able to run their own original discs on RetroArch.

We had initial plans of launching with just Sega CD, but a lot can happen in a day. So, without further ado, we’re going to show you our latest work in progress video of actual PlayStation1 games running off the original CD in RetroArch!

July 2: And then the day after, we added Sega Saturn and 3DO to the mix!

So what can you expect?

  • Expect a release of this VERY soon.
  • It will be Windows/Linux only for now. We have no plans right now for bringing it to other systems/platforms, but I’m sure the list of platforms that will have CDROM support will grow as we go on.
  • Expect this initial release to target PlayStation, Sega CD, Sega Saturn and 3DO games for now. If more systems get added to the mix, we will let you know in advance.
  • We are going to get Lakka involved in this from Day One.
  • Will things be perfect on Day One? No. But it will be pretty good for an initial release, and as ever with all things RetroArch, we move fast, and we will make speedy progress!

PS. In case you were wondering what happened to ProjectFuture, you’re looking at it!

Retrogaming should be affordable to all and available to all instead of locked behind overexpensive wasteful hardware. It is all built off the backs of opensource anyway, why should this be locked down again by any single company? It shouldn’t! Preservation and emulation should go hand in hand, and that means being able to run the original discs on open source emulators, on ANY device!

To the Raspberry Pi community and other SBC communities – go nuts with this when it hits!